Rage
by ashez2ashes
Summary: COMPLETE! Cowritten with AsheRhyder. WolverineRanma crossover. Ryoga finally makes it back to junsekyo...and jumps into the wrong spring. They really should repaint those signs...
1. Chapters 1-5

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is owned by people other than me. I own nothing and claim no rights to the show.  
  
**C&C, public or private, is appreciated. Since most of the fic is already written, we prefer grammar help. If you have a burning desire to give other C&C though, we will take it with a smile.**  
  
"RAGE"  
  
by  
  
Ashes2ashes: slayer0@Zoomnet.net  
AsheRhyder: ashrhyder@yahoo.com   
  
  
Chapter One  
  
The man known only as Logan stroked the silken violet hair of his beloved, smiling down on her serenely sleeping face. One would never guess that she belonged to a clan of fierce female warriors, and was one of the strongest of them, when awake.  
  
A noise outside quickly drew his attention. His heart beat quickened, and he stood silently, walking out of the small house they shared. He sniffed the air, his hyper-enhanced senses telling him what he feared to be true in the pit of his stomach.   
  
"Creed..." he growled softly. There was a louder crash, and a scream, from back within the hut. Logan spun quickly, racing back inside, only to find his arch nemesis standing over the disemboweled form of his lover.   
  
Logan's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the blood on Victor's claws. Blood that shone in his own steel-blue eyes, turning them a sort of ruddy hue. All Logan could see was the blood . . . the blood of the one he had loved, spilled on the hands of his enemy.  
  
He hit the taller man dead on, sending them both tumbling through the already broken wall. All around, Amazons awoke and darted out to see what the cause of the alarm was. They quickly stepped back from the two dueling creatures, seeing the complete lack of control in their fighting.  
  
Logan slashed out Victor's abdomen, only to have it regenerate before his eyes. Blood splashed on his face, but he took no notice.  
  
"What's the matter, runt?" Creed snarled. "Don't tell me you actually like playing with the frails?" A long-armed swipe threw the smaller fighter back, crushing a house on impact.  
  
"They fight like the wild animals!" One of the Amazons whispered fearfully to the matriarch, who watched silently.  
  
The blond man took the opportunity to leap off the side of the cliff, where the waiting flat lands below held more room to fight. He paid no heed to the myriad pools of water below.  
  
Logan stood, brushing bits of house from his sturdy form.   
  
"Where is he?" Logan growled, standing and brushing bits of house from his sturdy form. His eyes, having gone completely from blue-gray to brick-red, practically glowed with anger.  
  
The matriarch pointed solemnly to Junsenkyo, Training Ground of the Cursed Springs.   
  
Logan nodded briefly, eyes narrowing. In a sudden burst of speed, the shorter fighter dove off the side, following his thirst for vengeance.   
  
He landed heavily on the soft ground by one of the springs. Creed stood not too far away, apparently awaiting his arrival. The taller combatant smirked.  
  
"Yer getting old, runt." He laughed digging his claws into his enemy's chest.   
  
"Shaddap." Logan snapped, wrenching away and slashing Victor's arms.  
  
The two combatants squared off on the flat land. Both were covered in blood yet neither of them were seriously injured. Creed lunged at Logan's throat claws outstretched. Logan ducked and his opponent leaped over him and landed neatly on a wooden pole in the middle of a spring.  
  
Creed yowled, ramming Logan in the stomach, and knocking the air from his lungs. The heavier man threw him to the ground, and, seeing a conveniently close spring, plunged his opponents head under water and held him there to drown. Logan could feel the icy water pool into his lungs, making breathing impossible, but his heart beat pounded in his ears, infusing him with the will to battle. Creed's strength matched his own, though, and without air he could not force himself to break the surface. There was a burning sensation in the back of his mind . . . something raw, something primal, a sense he usually tried to bury . . .  
  
Victor noticed his prey's struggles increasing.   
  
'At this rate, the runt might actually break free,' he thought, scowling.  
  
He reached over and grabbed one of the bamboo poles beside him, breaking it off and creating a make-shift javelin. With it, he impaled Logan, and pinned him to the ground. Blood streamed from the wound into the once clear water, staining it red.  
  
Blood that did not escape Logan's notice. Not at all. As the blood filled his weakened gaze, that primal part of him broke free . . . and lashed out.   
  
Creed was quite surprised when the one he had dubbed a 'runt' suddenly ripped out the confining pole that had pierced flesh and ground. But Logan's glowing red eyes told him that this was not a battle he could win. And when the smaller man barred his fangs, Victor knew he was no longer dealing with a man. Or even an animal. This, what he was facing now, was something so deadly, even he did not want to see what it was capable of doing. So he ran.  
  
---  
  
The Amazon matriarch finished explaining the danger of the spring to the guide, then returned to her home. The guide, only having half understood what she had said, merely drove a sign into the ground before the spring: "Warning: Spring of Really Deadly Man. Do not enter!"  
  
Of course, over time and neglect, some of the words wore off . . .  
  
---  
  
A star-less sky hung overhead casting a lonesome traveler into darkness. As far as his eyes could see was blackness. The inky nothingness threatened to swallow him hole if he looked at it any longer.  
  
So he didn't.  
  
He kept his green eyes to the ground tracing the network of vines and underbrush absently. The chaotic network reminded him of his own life. Each was a constant tangle seeming to have no end or beginning.  
  
Each had warning signs telling him to not go further.   
  
'But did I ever listen? Do I ever think before I leap over the cliffs?' Ryouga shifted his pack on his shoulders and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.  
  
'At this rate I'm never going to make it back to Junsenkyo at this rate. Damn you Ranma this is all your fault!' Ryouga lifted his fist in the air angrily and then let it limply fall to his side.  
  
'Damn me for following him.' He sighed deeply. It had become increasingly hard to stay mad at Ranma. As much as he hated to admit it, he was developing a grudging respect for him.  
  
'I'm never going to make it to Junsenkyo again.' Ryouga turned looked back at the ground as he fell back into his inner musings. If he had kept his head up a second later, he would have seen the sign reading: "Welcome to Junsenkyo".  
  
He walked for several minutes more. The path had transformed into a well worn dirt trail. Ryouga glanced at his surroundings. He knew it was silly but it looked like he was in Junsenkyo. But that was impossible. He was deep in the forests of Japan.  
  
'Heh, I want to go back to Junsenkyo so badly I'm hallucinating. Hell that guy even looks like the Junsenkyo guide.'  
  
"Ah sir welcome to Junsenkyo. You look familiar yes?"  
  
'He even sounds like him. Might as well play along.'  
  
"Of course you know me! You tried to cook me you bastard." The guide looked up in shock.  
  
"Oh! You the young man that fall into spring of drowned piglet? I so sorry! You run away before I could apologize and give you cure."  
  
"C-cure?" The lost boy looked around fully and took in the familiar sight of pools of water with bamboo poles sticking out of them.  
  
"You mean this is really Junsenkyo? I . . . can get cured?"  
  
"Why yes si--  
  
"HAHAHAHAHA! FINALLY, I CAN BE NORMAL AGAIN!" He ran up and hugged the guide, happily lost in the moment.  
  
"Ack sir can't breath." The guide wheezed while several cracking sounds could be heard. Laughing nervously, Ryouga released him.  
  
He let himself be led by the hand, necessity outweighed pride in this case, there was no way in hell he was going to let himself get lost. The guide stopped in front of his house overlooking all the springs. There must have been hundreds. Ryouga squinted his eyes and spotted the spring of drowned girl and spring of drowned panda in the front. The spring of drowned piglet was in the middle of the springs. It would be very hard to actually get to the spring let alone fall into it.  
  
'Leave it to me to be one of the special cases.'  
  
"So where is the spring of drowned man?"  
  
The guide pointed to the farthest away spring. It was positioned in a way that you would have to walk between nearly all the springs to get to it and only a narrow walkway led to it.  
  
"Damn it! You've got to be kidding!"  
  
He took a deep breath and steadied himself. He could do this. As long as he kept the spring in his line of site he'd be all right. And so what if he fell into another of the springs?   
  
He sat his backpack down.  
  
"Sir? What you doing?"  
  
Ryouga clinched his fist so tightly a trickle of blood ran down his palm.  
  
"I'm going to that spring."  
  
He crouched low and then leaped and landed on the first pole. After steadying himself he landed on the next, and then the next, and the next; several times he almost lost his balance but for once his course was straight and true. He landed softly next to the spring covered in sweat.  
  
"I . . . made it." Wasting no time, he started to jump into the spring--  
  
and stopped.  
  
The spring he was about to jump into said "Spring of drowned Man" but the one beside it read "Spring of Really Man."   
  
Thank Kami! He had almost jumped into the wrong spring! Perhaps, for once, the gods were smiling down upon him . . . He jumped in.  
  
Pain . . burning searing . . . body on fire . . . can't breath . . .death . . .kill . . . pain . . anger . . .hate . .RAGE.  
  
At the edge of Junsenkyo, the guide held his binoculars to his eyes and frowned. The boy had been under for quite a long time. He hoped he was all right.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Ryouga burst from the spring, clutching his head in pain. "It burns! Oh gods . . . the screaming! They won't stop . . . screaming." He scratched at his hands frantically, cutting deep into his hands with his fingernails making them bleed. The blood dripping off his hands reminded him of . . . something.  
  
The screaming intensified making him fall to his knees. The pain was too much. The screaming . . . they wouldn't stop screaming! Why won't they stop screaming! His body shuddered violently and then fell still.  
  
He slowly raised his head and looked up with glowing rage filled eyes.   
  
---  
  
Chapter Two:  
  
Ranma and Akane had barely taken three steps from the school entrance when Ukyou, Shampoo and Kodachi launched themselves at Ranma. The pig-tailed martial artist winced as all three collided in mid air, and then promptly began to fight over him.   
  
"Stay away from Shampoo husband!" The Amazon girl shouted, attacking Kodachi with her bonbori.   
  
"You should have learned by now silly wench, that my Ranma Darling will never belong to anyone but Kodachi Kuno!" The psychotic gymnast laughed, twirling her ribbon.  
  
"Both of you hussies leave Ran-chan alone!" Ukyou screamed, batting both of them away with her Mega Spatula.  
  
"Thanks, Ucchan." Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "I really didn't feel like dealing with them today." Ukyou blushed bright red.  
  
"No problem, Ran-chan." She beamed.  
  
"Excuse me," a tired voice asked from behind them. "Could you please direct me to Furinkan High School?"   
  
"Hey, Ryouga, welcome back." Ranma turned and smirked at the exhausted nomad.  
  
"Heh, "Thanks", Ranma." Ryouga scowled at his rival, bitterness written all over his expression. "What are you doing in Yokohama?"  
  
"JACKASS! THIS IS NERIMA!" Ukyou smashed him with her spatula, but he didn't go flying. Instead, there was a nice clang, and a Ryouga-shaped dent in her weapon.  
  
Ryouga turned his dour glare on Ukyou.   
  
"I really wish you wouldn't do that," he grumbled. The okonomiyaki chef returned his scowl.   
  
"You dented my spatula!"   
  
"Ah huh." Ryouga dead panned. "Must be that time of the month." Ukyou sent him flying.  
  
Unfortunately, being not quite as used to uppercuts as Akane, Ukyou only managed to send him a few feet . . . and right into the school's pool. Briefly, Ranma entertained the idea of diving in after P-chan, but then decided he really didn't feel like getting wet.  
  
'If I go in after him, and come out with P-chan, she's bound to make the connection. On the other hand, if I can get the girls outta here now, there may still be time for him to scramble out of there with out revealing his secret to Akane . . .'  
  
"Hey, Akane, Ucchan, how about an after-school snack?" He grinned as innocently as he could.   
  
"Honestly Ranma, are you ever not hungry?" Akane rolled her eyes.  
  
Ranma thought for a moment, then grinned again. "Nope." Akane sighed.  
  
"Ya know . . ." Ukyou glanced worriedly at the pool. "He's been under an awfully long time . . . I hope he didn't hit his head . . ."  
  
"Ryouga can swim, right?" the chef looked to Ranma expectantly.  
  
"Yeah, sure he can." Ranma smiled weakly.  
  
"Maybe we should go check on him . . ." Akane turned back towards the pool, but Ranma grabbed her arm.   
  
"NO! I mean uh, no need, Ryouga's a great swimmer, almost as good as I am."  
  
"I dunno Ran-chan, I've never seen Ryouga even get near a pool before . . ." Ukyou swiftly crossed the distance to the side of the pool.  
  
A sudden splash sent her scurrying back as a near-tidal wave erupted from the normally calm waters. A tall form rocketed from the pool, gaining at least ten feet of air between himself and the surface before landing behind her, facing Ranma and Akane.   
  
The boy crouched low to the ground, balanced on all fours, and shook the water from his lean form like a dog. A low growl built in the back of his throat, and suddenly, he whipped his head up to face them. His eyes, now sharply angled, glowed blood red.  
  
"RRRRRRRRRRRANMA!" He growled. "PREPARE TO DIE!" He leapt forward . . . just as Ranma woke up.   
  
"GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
Call it premonition.  
  
Call it a vision.   
  
Hell, call it Akane's cooking last night. Still, Ranma had a sinking feeling in his gut that what he saw in his dream was not totally untrue.  
  
A sign bashed him from behind, knocking him out.  
  
'Shut up Boy.' His father the panda sat his sign down and drifted back into sleep.  
  
---  
  
It was a normal day in Nerima. The bright yellow sun shone over head as little birds sung their happy songs in the trees. A light breeze blew in from the north refreshing the people outside. Crazy bokken wielding swordsman chased an aqua-transsexual martial artist across school grounds. Same old, same old, it was a normal day in Nerima.  
  
"Saotome, I shall smite you!" Kuno held his bokken high over his head ready to strike. "In the name of the moon . . . err . . . I mean, I shall smite you and rescue the lovely pigtailed goddess!"  
  
Ranma rubbed his temples. This guy never knew when to quit. Would he ever stop? He suddenly had a horrible vision of an elderely Kuno and himself. Kuno was hobbling over to him on a walker with his bokken held high. Ranma shuddered.   
  
"Saotome! I-" Kuno stopped for a moment to take a puff of his oxygen tank--"I shall smite thee!"  
  
"RANMA, PAY ATTENTION!" Akane smacked Ranma in the back of the head.  
  
"Oh, heh, yeah." Ranma fell into a fighting stance ready to take down Kuno the fastest way he could.   
  
Step on his face.  
  
"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"   
  
Kuno crumpled to the ground as Ryouga landed on the swordsman's head creating a Tatewaki shaped crater in the ground.  
  
"Hey, P-chan, you missed."  
  
Ryouga jumped out of the crater and brushed off the little rock bits from his clothes.  
  
"Nah, I was aiming for him. I'm just so used to attacking you on sight . . . I sometimes forget to modify the catch phrase." Ryouga rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously. He had been aiming for Ranma, old habits were hard to break.  
  
"And don't call me that," Ryouga added.  
  
"Hey, Ryouga, welcome back." Ranma smirked at the exhausted nomad.  
  
"Hey, thanks, Ranma." Ryouga scowled at his one time rival, bitterness written all over his expression. "What are you doing in Yokohama?"  
  
Ranma froze. This . . . this was just like his dream.  
  
It was happening again. Ranma turned to his right and noticed Ukyou standing next to him. She raised her spatula in the air.   
  
"Jack--"   
  
Ranma tackled Ukyou and fell to the ground in a heap, landing in a very embarrassing position.  
  
Ukyou blinked and looked at Ranma, blushing blood red.  
  
"Ran-chan what are you--"  
  
"YOU PERVERT!" two voices chorused from behind him. Steam rose off Akane Ryouga as each glowed an unearthly red.  
  
"You jerk!"  
  
"Didn't I tell you to take care of Akane?!"  
  
Ranma shot up and waved his hands in front his face frantically.   
  
"It's not what you think!"  
  
Ranma looked back and forth to Akane and Ryouga and wondered from who his doom would come from. He was really hoping for it to come from Ryouga. At least then he wouldn't be kicked so far he'd miss dinner.  
  
His wish came true as Ryouga launched himself into the air, fist outstretched.  
  
"Ranma Prepare to die! . . . AGAIN!"  
  
'How can you really prepare for something like that?' Ranma thought as he calmly dodged. Ryouga landed behind Ranma, creating another large crater. He let out a feral war cry before throwing himself into a complicated combination of twists, kicks, and punches. Most of the blows Ranma was able to block, but Ryouga got lucky, and one of his left strikes caught Ranma in the ribs, and threw him out towards the road.  
  
"Ran-chan!" Ukyou cried, whipping out her Mega Spatula. "Ryouga, you jackass!" She slammed him with her weapon, but this time, he landed next to his rival. Of course, having to follow tradition, the lost boy's landing created another crater.  
  
"Sheesh. Women." Ranma muttered, crawling to his feet.   
  
"Maybe if you were civil to them, they wouldn't punt you," Ryouga sneered.  
  
"I seem to remember you getting smashed as well, P-chan." Ranma scoffed. The lost boy growled, barring his fangs.   
  
"Ranma . . . I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"  
  
Ryouga spun on the ball of his right foot, bringing out his left in a deadly kick that could have bashed Ranma's brains in, had the swift martial artist not dodged.   
  
"STAND STILL AND DIE, DAMN IT!" The short haired boy yelled, lashing out with another kick from his right side.  
  
"What's the matter, pork butt?" Ranma winced as a punch flew wild and totally demolished a car. "You're acting like the old days . . . don't tell me you've still got a thing for Akane?! Man, I thought you were over her!"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Ryouga cried, swinging his body low to the ground for a sweep that almost connected. "You have no right to treat your fiancé like that! I may have no right to date Akane, but I can still protect her from jerks like you!"  
  
"Ryouga, calm down! Kami, you're really going to hurt someone!" The pig-tailed martial artist blocked a direct punch from his opponent.  
  
"Yeah, and it's going to be you!" he snarled.  
  
At this point in time, when the action is the hottest, there is always a twist of Murphy's law. In this case, it was the little old woman with poor eyesight who tries to water her plants.  
  
A bucket of cold water fell from the second story window of the old woman's apartment, splashing Ranma and landing upside down on Ryouga's head.  
  
"Awww, man, why the hell . . ." Ranma-chan looked down at her wet Chinese shirt, then realized that Ryouga had also gotten wet. And he hadn't become P-chan. A chill ran up and down her spine, only pausing to do the macarena between her shoulder blades.  
  
"Ryouga?" Ranma-chan called out. "Ryouga . . . are you okay?"  
  
There was a faint sound from under the bucket, and she relaxed a little at it.   
  
"C'mere, lemme help," she approached, but stopped short as she sensed danger.  
  
SNIKT!  
  
Blood dripped from Ryouga's hands as three claws shot from the top of both. She screamed in surprise and jumped back, just as Akane and Ukyou arrived on the scene. Those talons were used to decimate the bucket.   
  
One of the claws cut too deep, though, leaving a gash across Ryouga's face that bled . . . and healed, right before Ranma-chan's very eyes. Ryouga's dark lashes parted, revealing ruby-red pools of blood lust.  
  
"Stay back!" She yelled to Akane and Ukyou. "Something's wrong with Ryouga!"  
  
"What?" Akane stopped short, but Ukyou took another step forward.   
  
"What's wrong with him?"  
  
"I'm not sure," Ranma-chan replied. "But-- AHHHHH!"  
  
In one swift movement, Ryouga had clawed six long gashes down her arms. Blood raced down her wounded limbs, and down his claws. With an animalistic growl, he licked away the crimson fluid .  
  
"Where did those come from?!" Ukyou and Akane both moved to grab Ranma, but Ryouga's attention snapped to them the instant they shifted stance. He growled, muscles tensing to pounce, and was distracted only by his original prey's attempt to kick him. In a flash, the red-eyed youth had torn through the flesh of Ranma-chan's upper legs, as well, thoroughly disabling her.  
  
"RANMA!" Akane screamed, ignoring the feral lost boy and starting once more to move to her fiance's side.  
  
"RAN-CHAN!" Ukyou screamed, also trying to approach.  
  
"RANMA-HONEY!" A lecherous old voice cried out, drawing attention from all four beings. A small form leapt like a bullet at the downed red-head, but was intercepted mid-flight.   
  
Ryouga's nostrils flared as he pinned the small pervert to the ground, his claws on either side of the lecher's face, just nicking the skin.  
  
"What the hell happened to you?!" Happosai sweated bullets as the glowing red eyes scrutinized their new prey. The lost boy snarled loudly, barring his infamous fangs. The ancient pervert had a feeling though, that today, the bandanna wearing martial artist wouldn't hesitate to use them.  
  
"Ryouga.... what's wrong with you?" Ranma-chan tried to stand, causing the wild youth to spin, and his claws to slice neatly into Happosai's face. He tasted the blood, then made a face of disgust, and batted the lecher into a high earth orbit.   
  
Ryouga circled Ranma-chan, his glinting red eyes narrow. To him, the hunt was almost over. The prey could no longer run, and could not fight back. Ranma struggled to stand upright, the loss of blood severely weakening her.   
  
"Ranma, look out!" Akane yelled as the feral boy pounced. The scream distracted him, causing him to fall off course, but he quickly adjusted his stance so that he fell back on all fours. He growled, barring his fangs once more, his claws digging furrows into the ground beneath him.   
  
"Ryouga, stop this!" Ranma-chan shouted. "Why are you doing this? I thought you liked Akane!" His comment went ignored, however, as the lost boy's attention was focused on the other two girls. His whole body was tense as he awaited the right moment to attack . . .   
  
But Ukyou wasn't going to wait.   
  
"JACKASS! CUT IT OUT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, whipping her spatula out in a giant arc that slammed into the side of his head. There was a magnificent clang, as if someone had struck a huge bell, and Ryouga staggered back, blinking. He glared at Ukyou, but slunk backwards, and eventually disappeared into the shadows of a near by ally.   
  
As he did, Akane raced over to Ranma, who had finally fallen, and tried to use parts of her school uniform to tie off the wounds. She had Ukyou call an ambulance while she attempted to stop the bleeding.  
  
---  
  
Chapter Three:  
  
Fear.  
  
He could smell it. A part of his distant mind was worried about this but the animal snarled at it, silencing it. All that mattered was the hunt, and fueling the rage.  
  
He sniffed the cold damp grass, picking up on a familiar scent. His glowing red eyes darted back and forth in the night looking for signs of prey. Something was close, something big. Ryouga licked his lips. He was hungry.  
  
He heard it long before it appeared, but decided to let it come to him. A large snout poked out of the outskirts of the clearing. It looked up at him in surprise and recognition. The large pig started forward but something told him to stop.  
  
This wasn't a friend.  
  
Ryouga crouched low on all fours and circled the large pig. He smiled evilly, exposing his fangs to the moonlight.  
  
He wasn't sure why, but for some reason the very sight of his prey enraged him. He wasn't just hungry. He wanted to kill, to see the sweet crimson blood roll off this beast in buckets. It made him feel weak. He hated to feel weak.  
  
The pig turned and bolted back into the underbrush.  
  
SNIKT!  
  
Ryouga's claws snapped out of his hands leaving trails of blood behind. He paused for a brief moment letting the pig have a head start. He felt like playing with his prey today.  
  
He leaped an impossible distance forward and landed silently in the wooded thicket. It wasn't hard to pick up its scent.  
  
Ryouga spotted it a few moments later running out of the thicket. It looked around frantically in front of a small farm house as if searching for something, or SOMEONE.  
  
"Kastunishiki what are you doing?" A pretty girl with long dark haired asked as she stepped out of the farm house. Her pig looked in relief at seeing his master. Everything would be all right.   
  
And that's when his entrails came spilling out.  
  
Akari looked on in horror as her beloved pet fell to the ground, gutted like a fish. She turned pale white as she recognized its killer.  
  
Ryouga looked up at her with an animalistic expression, void of all humanity. His eyes shifted to meet hers and locked there.  
  
The seconds seem to stretch on to lifetimes as she could only stare frozen in fear. Finally, Ryouga shifted his stance, readying to leap forward. Akari ran into the house and bolted the door, moving faster than she had ever in her entire life.  
  
She stepped away from the wall just in time as claws burst through the plaster and ripped it apart. Ryouga stepped through the hole and pushed bits of plaster and wood back from his makeshift hole.  
  
"Ryouga . . .what are you doing?" Akari's voiced wavered as tears streaked down her face. He only growled in response. He advanced slowly, leaving trails of dripping pig blood on the newly polished floors.  
  
Akari took a step backward and tripped on the hem of her dress causing her to tumble to the floor. Ryouga saw this as an opportunity to strike and leaped forward claws outstretched.  
  
And then stopped.  
  
Why was he doing this? . . . She was prey. You kill prey. Fuel the rage. Kill her. Her? No . . .she's prey.  
  
Akari noticed his sudden distracted and reached up, grabbed a hot pot of steaming water from the stove, and hurled it toward him. The scalding water hit him square in the face.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
Ryouga looked up as humanity returned to his eyes. He took in the torn kitchen, Akari laying on the floor, her pretty face streaked with tears and her hands turning red with blisters from the scalding water. And then he looked down at himself and noticed the blood. There was so much of it. It was everywhere.  
  
"W-what?" he choked out. Akari . . . she was looking at him with . . . hatred? Had he done this? . . .   
  
"Akari . . . wha--"  
  
"Get out." She looked at him coldly despite the fear gripping her heart. "You're not welcome here anymore."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Now."   
  
Ryouga took one last look at Akari's tear streaked and betrayed face and then ran out of the house, past the bloody body of Kastunishiki and into the dark night. Akari looked around at the carnage and then down at her burning and blistered hand . . . hands that would be scarred for the rest of her life.   
  
"Ryouga . . . I'll never forgive you."  
  
---  
  
Akane, Ranma, and Ukyou sat in Ucchan's around the griddle. Akane sipped a glass of iced tea, and Ukyou absently sharpened her mini-spatulas, while Ranma checked the wide bands of white bandages around his arms and legs.  
  
"ITAI!" he hissed, rubbing more of a salve from Dr. Tofu into the cuts.   
  
Ukyou tightened her fist in anger. The next time she saw that stupid jackass she was going to--  
  
"Excuse me, do you know where I am?" They stared at the ragged figure standing in the door way, fear and anticipation in their eyes.  
  
"Ryouga?" Akane asked timidly, half afraid he'd go berserk where he stood.  
  
"Akane? What're you doing in Nagano?" He dropped his staff and straightened up, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.  
  
"IDIOT!" Ukyou roared, flinging a handful of mini-spatulas at him. "THIS IS MY STORE! YOU'RE IN NERIMA!"  
  
Ryouga winced and dodged the projectiles, one of which snagged his cheek and made a small incision.   
  
"Oi!" He yelped. "Watch it with those things! That stings!"  
  
"YOU JACKASS! DO YOU KNOW HOW BADLY YOU COULD HAVE HURT RAN-CHAN?! OR ANY OF US?! YOU MORON!"  
  
She whipped out her largest spatula and slammed him into the wall. Ryouga slid to the floor, eyes swirling. A large peice of the ceiling caved in from the impact and fell on his head.  
  
"Owchies . . . Mommy, I don' wanna go to school today . . ." he whimpered before falling unconscious.  
  
A mere ten minutes later, the residents of Nerima had the good fortune to see three of the resident martial artists dragging a fourth down the street, bound in probably a mile's worth of chains, by the scruff of his neck. Said martial artist was swirly-eyed, and obviously not going to be out and about on his own power for quite some time.  
  
"So . . ." Ranma paused at the cross roads, looking down both possible directions, and then back down at their cargo. "Where should we haul him?"  
  
"Whaddaya mean, where should we haul him?" Ukyou grumbled, rubbing her sore hands.   
  
"Well, we could either take him to Dr. Tofu's, or we could take him to the Nekohaten." Ranma shrugged, even as Akane's withering glare killed the potted plants behind him.  
  
"We are not going to the Nekohaten," She stated firmly, expression grim. Ranma finally took notice of this, and shrank back.   
  
"Right. Dr. Tofu's. What could I have been thinking?" He winced as she continued to glare at him, then quickly picked up his end of the chain and started dragging.  
  
"Good afternoon, Ranma, Akane, Ukyou. What's the . . . oh my." Dr. Tofu paused in the doorway of his office as he saw the three teenagers dragging in their bound acquaintance. Several other patrons stopped what they were doing, and a few others vacated.   
  
"Thank Kami that Kasumi isn't here . . ." One whispered to another. "With the four of them here . . . and her . . ."  
  
His companion shuddered.   
  
"Oh dear, what happened to Ryouga?" Dr. Tofu asked, adjusting his glasses. "And why is he all tied up like that?"  
  
"Remember how we told you that Ranma got attacked by a wild animal?" Ukyou crossed her arms. "This jackass is that wild animal." The doctor arched his eyebrows incredulously.  
  
"May I ask how Ryouga here created claw marks down Ranma's arms?" He asked, then thought better of it. "Oh, never mind, just bring him on in. You're blocking the doorway."  
  
Dr. Tofu sighed and ushered the young adults in, watching the rest of his patients quietly slip out. This was beginning to get tedious . . . For a moment, he wondered if he was even in the right profession. Then he sighed, and followed them back to the examination room.  
  
"Ughn . . ." Ryouga's green eyes slipped open effortlessly, and for a moment, he was blinded by the bright lights of the doctor's office. "What the hell?" He blinked in shock, even as his vision rapidly adjusted to accommodate the greater amount of light.  
  
"Why am I all tied up?"   
  
"It's for your own good, Ryouga . . ." Akane told him from the other side of the room. "Please, don't struggle."   
  
"Wha--?" He looked around to see her, but, since she was seated behind him, he was unable to.  
  
"Akane, where are you?"  
  
"Please stop it!" She grabbed Ranma's hand, as he was next to her, and gripped it tightly.   
  
"Don't move!"  
  
She had seen a lot of unusual things in her lifetime, but she had truly believed that Ryouga and Ranma were friends . . . and what she had seen in Ryouga's eyes when he attacked her fiance . . . the animalistic rage . . . that was not something she was prepared to deal with. And it scared her. A lot.  
  
"Akane-san?" Ryouga's voice was hurt, but she didn't want to face him. "What's going on?"  
  
"Ryouga, stay still." Dr. Tofu answered him, walking into his line of vision.  
  
"Doctor? What are you doing here? Where am I? And . . . What's going on?!"  
  
"Ryouga, what do you remember about the last week?" The doctor asked him while studying his eyes, trying to analyze reactions on a martial artist who could probably take getting hit by a small car like a walk in the park.  
  
"Last week?" The bandanna wearing martial artist focused on the floor. "Akar i . . . she . . . ano . . . She told me she hated me and never wanted to see me again . . . and Kastunishiki . . . was dead . . . all messy . . . and . . . I don't know what happened . . . and there was all this blood . . . Akari had burns on her hands, but I don't know why, and . . . I just don't remember!" While he spoke, his bright blue aura grew, until it almost filled the room.   
  
"This will hurt," Ranma noted, thinking of the Shi shi Hodokan to come.   
  
Luckily, Dr. Tofu hit a knock out spot on Ryouga's neck before the negative Chi could be released in a potentially devastating blast. As fast as it had accumulated, the energy dissipated back into nothingness.  
  
"Jackass." Ukyou grumbled. "Scaring us all like that."  
  
"So Doc, can you figure out what's wrong with him?" Ranma asked.   
  
"Frankly, Ranma, I don't think so." The physician sighed and cleaned off his glasses lenses. "Physically, I can't find anything too wrong with him, except for the fact that when I tried to take an X-ray, the machine blew up. I could have sworn that he wasn't wearing any metal when I ran him through . . . the sedative made sure we didn't need chains at that point . . . I hope."  
  
"You hope?" Akane dark eyes reflected her displeasure.  
  
"As I said, there's nothing physically wrong with him. He's in better health than most martial artists, no apparent broken bones, no lesions, no temperature . . . and watch this." He quickly removed a scalpel from one of the myriad of drawers, and made a long incision across Ryouga's cheek. A mere second after the cut was made, it healed itself, leaving only a few drops of blood to tell that there had ever been damaged.   
  
The three teenagers gasped.  
  
"It seems to be that Ryouga's regenerative ability has increased . . . at least tenfold." Tofu shook his head in exasperation. "I don't know what to make of it. I've never seen anything like this before."  
  
"Damn . . ." Ranma sulked. 'What I wouldn't give to have him just change back into P-chan and stop scaring the hell out Akane an' me,' he thought bitterly. "Wait a minute . . . Ryouga got hit by cold water, and he didn't change. Maybe it has something to do with Junsenkyo . . . maybe . . .' Realization dawned on the pigtailed martial artist. He jumped to his feet.   
  
"Thanks a lot for trying, Doc, but I guess some things are beyond science, ne?" He shook Tofu's hand, then gestured for Akane and Ukyou to help him grab Ryouga.  
  
"Wha--?" Tofu blinked at the sudden change of events. "Huh?"  
  
"I think I know who might have the answer!" Ranma called as the three teens lugged the once more unconscious nomad behind them in the direction of the Nekohaten.  
  
"This place just gets weirder and weirder . . ." the doctor sighed, closing the door behind them. "Curiouser, and curiouser."  
  
---  
  
Chapter Four:  
  
Ranma, Ukyou, and Akane dragged Ryouga down the street leaving a long scratch mark down the sidewalk. They had all underestimated how heavy he really was. It was like the guy was made of bricks or something.  
  
"Ugh, he so heavy," Akane said between clinched teeth. Ranma looked at her in the corner of his eye and smirked.  
  
"You'd think a big Gorilla girl like--"  
  
CLANG!  
  
"Ran-chan don't patronize her! We need her to help carry him!" Ukyou strapped her spatula back onto her back.  
  
Ranma rubbed the knot that was already forming on the top of his head. He was about to say something in retort when the Nekohaten standing before him saved him from his big mouth.  
  
He walked up to the door leaving the man sized pile of chains outside on the sidewalk.   
  
"Hey old ghoul ya in there?!"  
  
The shop looked dark from the outside. Rustling sounds were heard from the inside of shop. After several moments, Colonge opened the door.  
  
"Have you finally decided to come to your senses and marry Shampoo, Son in Law?"  
  
Ranma rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Um . . . no. We have a problem." He stuck out his thumb and indicated the human ball of chains behind him and Ukyou and Akane trying to keep it upright so Ryouga didn't suffocate.  
  
"Oh." Cologne raised one eyebrow. She then opened the door and motioned for them to come in. After a difficult task of getting Ryouga to fit through the door, and some idle threats about scuffed floors, the group sat around a table inside the restaurant. Ryouga was propped up against a wall sleeping peacefully.  
  
"So what is the problem Son in Law?"  
  
"Err." Ranma pointed to the bundle of chains. "Ryouga is."  
  
"I can see that . . ."  
  
"Oh heh heh . . . guess you can . . . well, he attacked me."  
  
Cologne raised both eyebrows. "So?"  
  
"No!" Ranma waved his hands in front of face. "You don't understand it was really vicious, like."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Argh!"  
  
Akane slapped Ranma in the back of the head knocking him out of the chair.   
  
"Honestly Ranma, I shouldn't have trusted you to explain everything." Akane then went on to explain their meeting at school, and their visit to doctor Tofu's. Ranma lay on the floor trying to regain bodily movement. Cologne listened to the entire story silently, only interrupting to ask the occasional question.  
  
"This is bad." Cologne sighed. Everyone else gulped collectively. When Cologne said things were bad you knew all Hell was going to break loose. Ranma then decided that dramatically this would be the best time to return to the waking world and stood up.  
  
"So what's wrong with him?"  
  
"Well it happened roughly fifty years ago . . ."  
  
"Aw man!"  
  
Cologne blinked. "What?"  
  
"Is this one of those ancient Chinese legends or curses or somethin'? Cause if it is, you just _KNOW_ its going to be trouble."  
  
Cologne hit him on the head with her staff. "Don't interrupt your elders. "Now, as I was saying; Ryouga suffers from what is called the Berserker's Rage. No one knows when, or even how, exactly, the Berserker's Rage came to be. All that is known is that once a man or woman has used the Rage, they give up part of their humanity to become one with the ferocity of nature."  
  
Several moments of silence followed as the group digested this information. Finally Ukyou broke the silence.  
  
"OK that tells us why he was acting like a boar on speed but what about the claws? Or the healing ability?"  
  
"I'm not sure." Cologne sighed. She hated not knowing things. But . . . it did seem familiar. Different . . . yet still familiar.   
  
"Wait!" Ranma broke in to the conversation. "The claws only came after he was hit with water. Could it be a Junsenkyo curse?"  
  
Cologne sucked in her breath. Damn it! It couldn't be . . . hadn't she told them to dry up that spring?! Someone was going to pay dearly. "That fool . . ." Cologne muttered under her breath.   
  
She turned to and started to walk to the back room. "I'll be right back. I have someone to consult."   
  
She hopped on her staff to the back room and picked up the phone. She dialed with tenshin amaguriken speed, too bad the phone wasn't as fast, and then waited for it to pick up.  
  
"Hello! Junsenkyo hot-line!"  
  
Cologne nearly facefaulted.  
  
"Plum? Is that you?"  
  
"Your call will be charged 200 yen per minute! Choose 1 for a listing of our springs, Choose 2 for a free brochure!"  
  
'That child . . . and I had thought she was kidding when she said she was going to revolutionize Junsenkyo. If I didn't know any better I would think someone had cloned Nabiki.'  
  
" . . . Choose 3 for a live operator." Colonge puched 3 on the keypad.  
  
"Hello! This is Junsenkyo hot-line! How may I help you?"  
  
"Plum, I know it's you."  
  
"Eh . . . heh . . . hello honored matriarch." Gulping sounds could be heard over the phone. "So uh . . . how may I help you?"  
  
"Yes, I want to know why _THAT_ spring is still in existence." She could almost picture Plum going pale.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Don't try to lie child. Your at least three thousand years too early to be able to fool me. Did a young man come by not long ago looking for the spring of drowned man?"  
  
"Uh . . . maybe . . .  
  
"Child . . .  
  
"I'm sorry! Its not my fault! I thought father could handle it this once! All he had to do was direct the man to the spring!"  
  
"You should know better by now."  
  
"WAAAAAA! I'M SORRRRRRY!" Cologne held the phone away from her ear.  
  
"I ordered that spring to be dried up."  
  
"But honored matriarch! It was the next thing on my list really it was! I was lucky enough that I had that hot water sprinkler system installed! I could have like died! Don't you care?"  
  
"Yes, child I care. But why didn't you just cure him why he was there?"  
  
"I tried! But the guy was raving about 'finally being able to defeat kanma' or something and then POOF! I turn around and he's gone!"  
  
"Do you have any idea how DANGEROUS that spring is? Do you know how many people have died?" Sniffling could be heard from across the line.  
  
The Amazon matriarch paused for a moment. "Where did you get the money for a automatic hot water sprinkler?"  
  
"Uh well you see, I had my mom's wedding ring . . . and there was this un-cursed spring . . ."  
  
Cologne sweat-dropped.  
  
"I want you to send me everything you have on that spring."  
  
"Oh Ok!"  
  
"And we will have to have a talk when I return. And while your at it, drain it." Cologne hung up the phone and sighed. She wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of wedding rings stuffed in with the papers.  
  
Cologne emerged from the back room looking worse for wear. Three sets of eyes looked up at her anxiously.  
  
"Your friend . . . has been to Junsenkyo."  
  
"That jerk! And he didn't bring me back any man water!" Mass face-faults ensued.  
  
CLANG!  
  
"Ran-chan there's more important things right now!" Ukyou blinked. "Why would Ryouga be going to Junsenkyo?"  
  
All eyes turned toward Ranma.  
  
"Ah eh . . . he . . . uh . . . got lost! Yeah! He got lost!" Akane walked up to Ranma and looked him in the eye.  
  
"There's something your hiding . . ."  
  
"No there's not! But there's more important things right now! We have to uh . . . help Ryouga! Yeah we gotta do that."  
  
Akane narrowed her eyes. "When have you ever wanted to help Ryouga?"  
  
"Uh . . .  
  
Cologne cleared her throat, saving the boy from further blunders of his legendary tact.  
  
"As I said, Ryouga has been to Junsenkyo. He's been cursed with the spring of drowned berserker. They are the most deadly of fighters. They have no remorse, no pity, and no mercy. Unlike most of the springs, the spring of drowned berserker just doesn't change your body, it changes your mind as well, to the point where you're not really human anymore."  
  
Silence hung in the room.  
  
"Is there a cure?" Akane looked up hopefully. Cologne had to know how to help them!   
  
"None that I know of, other than the most obvious. Although there is one man that might be able to help . . ."  
  
"Where the hell am I now?"  
  
Everyone minus Cologne, jumped ten feet in the air. Akane moved unconsciously to stand behind Ranma. "Ryouga your awake!"  
  
Ryouga yawned and shrugged out of his chains.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHH!" was the collective response.  
  
Ryouga looked down at the broken chains at his feet. "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break your chains." He looked up to see everyone staring at him like one does a tiger that just escaped from the zoo. He turned to look at Ranma who had his sleeves rolled up.   
  
"Ranma what happened to your arms?"  
  
"What happened to my arms?" Ranma seethed. "YOU HAPPENED TO MY ARMS! Don't you remember?!" Ryouga blinked in astonishment, then shook his head 'no'. Brushing bits of chains from his tattered form, he stood quickly, trying to figure out where he was.  
  
"Why are you all so jumpy?" He rubbed the back of his neck absently.  
  
"Do you know exactly what spring you jumped into, boy?" Cologne interrogated him. The lost boy shrugged again, "The Spring of Drowned Really Man." The elder of the Amazon village face-faulted.   
  
'Trust those idiots back home to put up a sign that fades . . . and to not do what I tell them to.' She thought.  
  
"Ryouga, that wasn't the Spring of Drowned Really Man." She sighed. "That was the Spring of Drowned Really Dangerous Man. The Spring of the Drowned Berserker."   
  
"So?" Although he didn't seem too worried, the bandanna wearing martial artist had paled considerably.  
  
"So, you have become a threat to your friends. Berserkers are the most deadly warriors known to man, boy. They don't regret their kill. They live for it." Cologne withdrew a piece of parchment and a pencil from her sleeve, and quickly scribbled down a name and a location on it. "This is the name of the last person known to have suffered from Berserker's Rage and not completely succumb to it. I want you to keep your eyes out for this man, Ryouga. He may be the only one who knows how to help you. Until then, do not leave your friends, and have them keep an ample supply of hot water on hand. Otherwise . . . you will have a lot of deaths haunting your mind in the future."  
  
Ryouga's face turned ashen, so he looked to the paper, hoping his bangs would shadow his pallor enough.  
  
"Logan at Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted," he read softly.   
  
"Westchester, USA?!"  
  
The lost boy looked up, faintly depressed. "I can't even find my way home, and you're asking me to go hunt down a man I've never seen, in a country more than three times the size of Japan, in an area I've never heard of?!"  
  
"I'm doomed." He sank to the ground, head hanging low.  
  
---  
  
Chapter Five:  
  
Akari stared blankly at the phone as it rang for the sixth time. Her house was still a mess. Her hands still hurt. Only Kastunishiki had been moved, thoughtfully buried outside the house in the graveyard her family had made for their loyal pets.   
  
A seventh ring. Whoever was calling certainly wasn't about to give up . . .   
  
She didn't want to answer. It could be Ryouga, whom she eternally hated for his violent attack against her and her pet. But it also could be the doctor, or the constructor.  
  
Gingerly, she removed the receiver from its cradle.   
  
"Unryuu residence." She spoke softly, her voice all but dead. "Akari speaking."  
  
"Hey, Akari? This is Saotome Ranma," came the brash voice on the other end of the phone. "Have you seen Ryouga lately?" That name! It haunted her, hunted her, and tortured her! Would she never be free of him?!  
  
"I NEVER WANT TO HEAR THAT NAME AGAIN!" She screamed, slamming the receiver down.   
  
Ranma stared at his receiver as the other end of the line went dead, greatly shocked at the outburst from the usually polite and demure young woman.   
  
"Ooookay...." He gently replaced the phone, and turned to Akane, Ukyou, Cologne, and Ryouga. "She's not in the best of moods right now . . ."  
  
The lost boy's glare caught him like a deer in headlights.   
  
"Why should she be?" he muttered miserably, the blue glow surrounding him increasing in size. "After all, I probably ruined her life. And on top of it, I don't even know how!" His aura fluctuating uncontrollably, the bandanna wearing boy let it concentrate into a small sphere . . .  
  
"NOT INSIDE!" Ukyou smashed him upside the head with her spatula. Ryouga blinked, then fell off the table he had been sitting on.  
  
"Ow . . ."  
  
The lost boy sat up and glared at her, but she took it in stride, and bashed him again when he wouldn't stop.  
  
"Stop looking at me like that!" she yelled.  
  
"Like what?!"  
  
"Like I'm a piece of meat hanging in the window of a butcher's shop!" she snapped back. Ryouga scowled, then crossed his arms.   
  
'Okay, let's sum-up our screwed-up life, eh, Hibiki?' He thought to himself. 'One, you've just screwed up your only chance with a girl who accepted you and your curse. Now she not only never wants to see you again, but she also hates your guts. Great. Two, you've jumped headfirst into trouble. Again. And this time, you've not only endangered yourself, but you've put your friends in danger, too. . . . Friends? What am I thinking? These people, friends? No . . . they don't care at all. They just want to protect their own lives . . . that's the only reason they're still here.   
  
'Face it, Hibiki.' Ryouga felt his depression swell. 'You're screwed!'  
  
'Nobody cares, I'm all alone, no one knows what to do, or what I'm going through, my life is ruined, and it's all my fault . . . I'm a danger to those I've grown to care about . . . I can't live like this!' Seeing that his three 'friends' were occupied talking to Cologne, he slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants and gripped the handle of his pocket knife.   
  
'None of them will miss me, I'm better off dead. I won't be able to hurt anyone then . . . No . . . None of them will miss me, and they'll be safe . . .'  
  
Ryouga stood silently, his hand gripping the handle so tightly he almost feared it would shatter. The others were so engrossed in their discussion, they didn't notice him slip out the door . . . and directly into the storage closet.   
  
"Figures," he muttered, almost silently. "I can't even get lost to take my life . . ."  
  
'Oh well, here's as good a place to die as any other . . .' He sat down on the floor of the closet and flipped out the blade. It was almost too dark to see the blade, but Ryouga had very good eyes.  
  
A mere slit horizontally across the wrist wouldn't do it, the cut had to be deep . . . he'd have to be untreatable, in case they found him before he was quite dead. Steeling his nerve, he locked his jaw, and carved a jagged 'T' in his arm with the sharp edge. Blood streamed down his arm in a beautiful crimson fountain . . . then stopped, as the fountain dried up. "What the . . . ?"  
  
He whispered, not believing the speed at which his wound had healed. Again, he tried to slice open his veins, and again, it healed, the blood welling up, only to be cut off by the regenerated flesh.  
  
His bright blue aura now provided him with enough light to watch the healing process, but he took no notice of his glow.   
  
"NO! KAMI DAMN IT!? WHY CAN'T I DIE?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, bursting from the closet, past the startled Akane, over the now trampled Ranma, and through the front door. Once in the street, he leapt directly in front of a speeding car, only to have it crash into him with the same effect had it hit a tree, instead.   
  
"No bones broke, not even a scratch . . ." The lost boy's wide green eyes swept over his unharmed form, and took a step to the right, just as a large delivery truck tried to hit the breaks. There was a loud thud, but Ryouga got right back up, not even winded.   
  
"This isn't right!" he screamed, dashing down the road. "Why is this happening to me?!"  
  
He plowed over Kodachi, who had been on her way to hunt down her Ranma-sama, and nearly tripped over Tsubassa, who had been masquerading as a lamp post.  
  
Five trailers, Four cars, three trucks, two bottles of rat poison, Akane's leftover cookies, and a partridge in a pear tree later, Ryouga found himself at the edge of a deep ravine.  
  
"You again?" He muttered to the chasm. "Why is it you always appear when I need you most?" He received no answer, not that he had been expecting one, so he shrugged, and prepared to jump.   
  
"RYOUGA!" Ranma yelled from behind him.   
  
"Don't do it!" Akane added.   
  
"COME BACK HERE, JACKASS!" Ukyou shouted.   
  
"So long, Ranma." The lost boy smiled grimly, then leapt.   
  
"NO!" the three cried out at once. "RYOUGA!"  
  
A little less than a minute later, the ground shook as Ryouga hit the floor. The trio remained silent, then began to turn around.  
  
"DAMN IT!" an angry voice screamed from the floor of the ravine. "Why can't I just die and get it over with?!"  
  
"Ryouga?" Akane called down into the darkness.  
  
"Sugar, are you okay?" Ukyou leaned over the edge.  
  
"Unfortunately, yes." Ryouga grumbled, the echo reaching them.  
  
"You gonna come up, or are you hurt?" Ranma asked.  
  
". . . Do I have a choice?" was the annoyed reply.  
  
"Well, either you come up, or I'll come down. Which is it gonna be?"  
  
". . . I'll come up . . ." Ryouga sighed. "Maybe next time, my neck will break."   
  
"WHAT?!" Ranma about had a coronary right then and there.   
  
"Just a thought." A moment later, Ryouga climbed over the edge of the deep chasm, looking little more worse for wear. His clothes were tattered, and he was extremely dusty, but there wasn't so much as a bruise or a scratch on him.   
  
"Damn it don't do that!" Ranma grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away from the edge. "You almost scared me to death!"  
  
"That would make an interesting headline." Ryouga dead panned. "Nerima's greatest martial artist killed today by a fatal heart attack."  
  
"Please don't scare us again like that, Ryouga." Akane sighed, relaxing.   
  
"What, like this?" Ryouga back-flipped into the ravine a second time, causing the girls to scream, and Ranma to fall down out of pure shock.  
  
There was a resounding crash.   
  
"Guess it didn't work that time, either." Ryouga yelled up to them. "But hey, third time's the charm!"  
  
Ranma twitched.  
  
---  
  
Ryouga lay in the basement of the Nekohaten chained to a wall. The room was dark and musty and the walls were dirty and crusted with scum. Various trinkets lay about the room, left over from the previous owners.  
  
He yanked on the chains irritably. Cologne had used some kind of variation of the moxibustion technique which stripped him of his strength . . . but only temporarily. The effect lasted for only two days but it still was very annoying.  
  
'I still don't understand why I have to stay down here. I can't be _THAT_ bad when I'm in berserker . . . what did they call it again? Berserker rage, mode, stage err . . . damn I forgot again.' His nose twitched irritably wanting someone to scratch it.  
  
'Well at least they gave me a TV . . . but they could have least turned it to a decent channel! I've been watching this damn Sailor Moon marathon all day, and if I didn't want to kill myself before, I sure as hell do now!'  
  
The lost boy growled and pulled at his chains harder.  
  
'I don't need cold water to go berserk! Maybe I could dislocate my joints or something.' He contemplated this for several moments but was saved by the basement door opening.  
  
He squinted his eyes against the light that flooded from the door and looked up at a fully armored samurai emerged from the basement.  
  
"Oh no he's found me! Listen, I'm really sorry about your sporting goods store! I wasn't watching where I was going and-"  
  
The samurai opened up a small flap on its helmet and looked at him with annoyed brown eyes.  
  
"What are you talking about jackass?"  
  
A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.   
  
"Heh . . . heh never mind. I never said that." He looked up at the samurai questionably. "Uh . . . Ukyou?"  
  
The samurai nodded as much as her heavy metal helmet allowed.  
  
"Yeah its me."   
  
"Ukyou, I didn't know you gave up okinomiyaki arts to become a samurai."  
  
She tripped and barely kept herself from plummeting to the ground. Good thing too, she never would have been able to get back up again. She recovered and glared at him, since it was obviously his fault.  
  
"No, Ryouga, I'm going to take you to some training grounds." Ryouga crinkled up his eyebrow in confusion. Something about this didn't seem right.  
  
'Why is Ukyou all alone? Why isn't . . .oh.' He smiled knowingly, but the expression held no mirth.  
  
"Why are you alone?"   
  
Ukyou averted her eyes.  
  
"Akane was supposed to come but--" She bit her lip.  
  
"She was afraid of me wasn't she?" His head sagged, the weight of the world baring down on his shoulders.  
  
"Akane afraid? Are you kidding?" She laughed half heartendly. Ryouga nodded. He knew.  
  
"Aren't you afraid the wild animal will turn on you too?" He looked up and met her eyes. She felt unable to look away from the pain filled green orbs.  
  
"Ryouga how could I ever be afraid of YOU?" She smiled. She was scared as hell but he still needed her help . . .  
  
He knew she was lying but he still felt grateful. He smiled softly.  
  
"Thank you for lying Ukyou."  
  
"Anytime Sugar, anytime. So Ryouga, why are you down here?"  
  
He blushed and shifted in his chains.  
  
"Cologne said she was the best to watch over me and they wouldn't let me sit in a spare room because of this incident I had."  
  
Ukyou shrugged and went to undo the locks of the chains.  
  
"Did you get hit with cold water or what?"  
  
Ryouga blushed, as the chains fell off his hands and feet. He sat on the floor and rubbed his wrists, trying to get rid of the lingering feeling of metal.  
  
"Um . . . no I got lost on my way to the bathroom, they really shouldn't a labyrinth in a restaurant, and there was this wall . . . how was I supposed to know it was a support beam?! . . . and err," Ryouga trailed off as he noticed Ukyou staring at him.  
  
Ukyou blinked a couple times before finally abandoning trying to figure out how a labyrinth, support beam, and the Nekohaten would have to do with Ryouga tied up in a basement watching Sailor Moon. Whatever it was it had to be horrible to have to endure such torture.   
  
"So what's been going on?" Ryouga asked as Ukyou ducked back through the door and came back with a hand full of rope.  
  
"Well, Happy finally came back. He looks horrible! He's all scarred up and everything! It was neat." Ukyou smirked. It was Happosai after all.  
  
---  
  
Somewhere in the Tendo Dojo . . .  
  
A small figure clad in a red and green striped shirt idly scratched the wall leaving deep gashes in the wood.  
  
Finally, he stood up and lifted a bra into the air.  
  
"Ryouga Hibiki you shall pay for what you've done to me! Happosai is dead!"  
  
Thunder and lightning struck in a clear sky for know apparent reason, lightning up a scared face. "Long live--  
  
THE LECHER!"  
  
---  
  
Ryouga sneezed.  
  
Ukyou walked up to her companion who was sitting on the ground and uncoiled a link of rope. Ryouga's eyes widened and his face blushed a deep crimson.  
  
"Hey listen Ukyou! I may not be chasing after Akane anymore or anything . . but it doesn't mean I'm going to do THAT or anything! I'm glad that your over Ranma but we're just friends!"  
  
Ukyou blushed. "YOU IDIOT! Its to tie you up with! Uh . . I mean restrain you! Err I mean . . . Damn it! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"   
  
Ukyou looked for the nearest implement to hit him with. Unfortuantley, he had already done the job himself and was passed out on the floor in a pool of blood. She walked up to him and kicked him a few times.  
  
"Wake up! This is harder to do when you're not awake!" He blinked, realized what she just said, and passed out again.  
  
"Argh! Get your mind out of the damn gutter! I was going to tie you to the wheelbarrow so you wouln't fall out! Remember the moxubustion thing? Your legs don't work right now you idiot!"  
  
He lifted his head and opened one eye cautiously and then other. Finally he sat up and laughed nervously.  
  
"Oh THAT'S what you meant."   
  
"What did you think I was talking about?" Ukyou glared at him with "scorned women glare of death 892" guaranteed to send many a man running in fear. Unfortunatley, she also got it confused with look 102 the 'catch cute man in chinese shirt' alluring gaze. She was really going to have to work on that.  
  
"Nothing ma'am, nothing at all."  
  
"Good." She tied up his arms and helped him into the wheelbarrow. "Are you made up of metal or what?" She wiped the sweat from her forehead.  
  
"Uh sorry?" He blinked as a thought occurred to him. "If your job is just to take me there then why are you wearing all that armor?"  
  
"Ranchan said suggested it. The wheelbarrow was his idea too." She sighed. "He always has such good ideas." Ryouga rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well gee Ukyou, I wish I could be as smart as Ranma someday," Ryouga deadpanned.   
  
Ukyou glared at him.  
  
"When did you start to use sarcasm?"   
  
Ryouga shrugged.  
  
"I dunno, being a danger to society kind of brings out the negative feelings in you."  
  
"And you were all sunshine and giggles before huh? Whatever. Don't insult Ranchan anymore or I'll send this wheelbarrow off a cliff, got it?" She turned the wheelbarrow around and wheeled it up a ramp located next to the stairs.  
  
"I tried that already remember?. . . Wait . . Ranma told you to use the wheelbarrow? So the only reason your taking me is because Ranma asked you to?"  
  
"Sit back and enjoy the ride jackass." She smirked.  
  
---  
  
The green, rolling hills flourished with vegetation and wildlife . . . and were about to be decimated.  
  
Two figures rested amidst the beauty of nature, one who had seen it many times before and never was not inspired by it, and another who's heart was far too damaged to appreciate it anymore.  
  
Ryouga sat in the midst of the wonders of nature, and his dark aura spread like wildfire as he watched the beauty that surrounded him that could never touch his heart. His aura of depression spread slowly, like oil on water, a black shadow stretching over the-- WHAM!  
  
"OWW! What the hell was that for?!" Ryouga scowled at the Amazon matriarch.  
  
"You're getting distracted, boy." Cologne shook her staff at him. "Concentrate on your inner equilibrium."  
  
"And how am I supposed to do that? Weigh myself?"  
  
WHAM!  
  
"Don't you sass me, boy. Sarcasm doesn't suit you."  
  
Ryouga twitched irritably, his scowl darkening.   
  
"Please don't mention suits . . ."  
  
Cologne threatened to bash him with her staff again, so he closed his eyes. A minute later, he opened them again, looking infinitely more cross.  
  
"I can't do this!" he snarled irritatedly.  
  
"Ranma could do it." Cologne prodded. Ryouga's scowl deepened again, and he once more closed his eyes.  
  
"Mantra?" Cologne poked him. The lost boy nearly lost it right then and there, but slowly inhaled and began the long and wordy mantra she had taught him.  
  
"Everything in the universe has a point of equilibrium. This point is the balance center for all life. All life must have a balance. Without this balance, there is chaos. And within chaos, there is destruction. Within balance, there is order. There is destruction in this order, but there is also creation."  
  
Ryouga's expression relaxed slowly as he repeated the mantra, and laxly, his aura receded.  
  
"I must achieve a balance within myself," he whispered. "I must find the calm within the storm, and encompass the yin and yang."  
  
"HEY PORK BUTT!" Ranma's voice yelled loudly next to his ear. Ryouga's eyes snapped open, and his battle aura flared into life around him. WHAM! Cologne's staff connected with the back of his skull again.  
  
"Don't be distracted!" She snapped.  
  
"But--" Ryouga started, but another bash stopped him.  
  
"Do you want to gain control of this or not?" The Chinese matriarch scowled. "If you are going to gain any small amount of control over this rage, then you will not allow that to distract you."   
  
"Whatever . . ." Ryouga sighed. "Everything in the universe has a point of equilibrium. This point is the balance center for all life. All life must have a balance. Without this balance, there is chaos. And within chaos, there is destruction. Within balance, there is order. There is destruction in this order, but there is also creation. I must achieve a balance within myself. I must find the calm within the storm, and encompass the yin and yang."  
  
"I SAID, HEY PORK BUTT!" Ranma's taunt again hit home, breaking Ryouga from his trance.   
  
"RANMA, PREPARE--" WHAM. And so the process continued several more times.   
  
By sunset, Ryouga had gone through the mantra seventeen times, each and everyone loosing his temper. Once, he came very close to blocking out the distraction, but Akane's voice had called out: "Ryouga, you're such an asshole. Get over yourself!" And he had been forced to Shi Shi Hokoudan the whole area.   
  
Cologne had not been pleased.  
  
For one week, the cycle went on. After a week, the park ran out of green, rolling hills, and they were forced to resort to the mountains. Not as much fun, but there was more for Ryouga to take out his anger on before blowing everything to kingdom come.  
  
Three days into the second week, Ryouga got lost.  
  



	2. Chapters 6-10

Chapter Five:  
  
Akari stared blankly at the phone as it rang for the sixth time. Her house was still a mess. Her hands still hurt. Only Kastunishiki had been moved, thoughtfully buried outside the house in the graveyard her family had made for their loyal pets.   
  
A seventh ring. Whoever was calling certainly wasn't about to give up . . .   
  
She didn't want to answer. It could be Ryouga, whom she eternally hated for his violent attack against her and her pet. But it also could be the doctor, or the constructor.  
  
Gingerly, she removed the receiver from its cradle.   
  
"Unryuu residence." She spoke softly, her voice all but dead. "Akari speaking."  
  
"Hey, Akari? This is Saotome Ranma," came the brash voice on the other end of the phone. "Have you seen Ryouga lately?" That name! It haunted her, hunted her, and tortured her! Would she never be free of him?!  
  
"I NEVER WANT TO HEAR THAT NAME AGAIN!" She screamed, slamming the receiver down.   
  
Ranma stared at his receiver as the other end of the line went dead, greatly shocked at the outburst from the usually polite and demure young woman.   
  
"Ooookay...." He gently replaced the phone, and turned to Akane, Ukyou, Cologne, and Ryouga. "She's not in the best of moods right now . . ."  
  
The lost boy's glare caught him like a deer in headlights.   
  
"Why should she be?" he muttered miserably, the blue glow surrounding him increasing in size. "After all, I probably ruined her life. And on top of it, I don't even know how!" His aura fluctuating uncontrollably, the bandanna wearing boy let it concentrate into a small sphere . . .  
  
"NOT INSIDE!" Ukyou smashed him upside the head with her spatula. Ryouga blinked, then fell off the table he had been sitting on.  
  
"Ow . . ."  
  
The lost boy sat up and glared at her, but she took it in stride, and bashed him again when he wouldn't stop.  
  
"Stop looking at me like that!" she yelled.  
  
"Like what?!"  
  
"Like I'm a piece of meat hanging in the window of a butcher's shop!" she snapped back. Ryouga scowled, then crossed his arms.   
  
'Okay, let's sum-up our screwed-up life, eh, Hibiki?' He thought to himself. 'One, you've just screwed up your only chance with a girl who accepted you and your curse. Now she not only never wants to see you again, but she also hates your guts. Great. Two, you've jumped headfirst into trouble. Again. And this time, you've not only endangered yourself, but you've put your friends in danger, too. . . . Friends? What am I thinking? These people, friends? No . . . they don't care at all. They just want to protect their own lives . . . that's the only reason they're still here.   
  
'Face it, Hibiki.' Ryouga felt his depression swell. 'You're screwed!'  
  
'Nobody cares, I'm all alone, no one knows what to do, or what I'm going through, my life is ruined, and it's all my fault . . . I'm a danger to those I've grown to care about . . . I can't live like this!' Seeing that his three 'friends' were occupied talking to Cologne, he slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants and gripped the handle of his pocket knife.   
  
'None of them will miss me, I'm better off dead. I won't be able to hurt anyone then . . . No . . . None of them will miss me, and they'll be safe . . .'  
  
Ryouga stood silently, his hand gripping the handle so tightly he almost feared it would shatter. The others were so engrossed in their discussion, they didn't notice him slip out the door . . . and directly into the storage closet.   
  
"Figures," he muttered, almost silently. "I can't even get lost to take my life . . ."  
  
'Oh well, here's as good a place to die as any other . . .' He sat down on the floor of the closet and flipped out the blade. It was almost too dark to see the blade, but Ryouga had very good eyes.  
  
A mere slit horizontally across the wrist wouldn't do it, the cut had to be deep . . . he'd have to be untreatable, in case they found him before he was quite dead. Steeling his nerve, he locked his jaw, and carved a jagged 'T' in his arm with the sharp edge. Blood streamed down his arm in a beautiful crimson fountain . . . then stopped, as the fountain dried up. "What the . . . ?"  
  
He whispered, not believing the speed at which his wound had healed. Again, he tried to slice open his veins, and again, it healed, the blood welling up, only to be cut off by the regenerated flesh.  
  
His bright blue aura now provided him with enough light to watch the healing process, but he took no notice of his glow.   
  
"NO! KAMI DAMN IT!? WHY CAN'T I DIE?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, bursting from the closet, past the startled Akane, over the now trampled Ranma, and through the front door. Once in the street, he leapt directly in front of a speeding car, only to have it crash into him with the same effect had it hit a tree, instead.   
  
"No bones broke, not even a scratch . . ." The lost boy's wide green eyes swept over his unharmed form, and took a step to the right, just as a large delivery truck tried to hit the breaks. There was a loud thud, but Ryouga got right back up, not even winded.   
  
"This isn't right!" he screamed, dashing down the road. "Why is this happening to me?!"  
  
He plowed over Kodachi, who had been on her way to hunt down her Ranma-sama, and nearly tripped over Tsubassa, who had been masquerading as a lamp post.  
  
Five trailers, Four cars, three trucks, two bottles of rat poison, Akane's leftover cookies, and a partridge in a pear tree later, Ryouga found himself at the edge of a deep ravine.  
  
"You again?" He muttered to the chasm. "Why is it you always appear when I need you most?" He received no answer, not that he had been expecting one, so he shrugged, and prepared to jump.   
  
"RYOUGA!" Ranma yelled from behind him.   
  
"Don't do it!" Akane added.   
  
"COME BACK HERE, JACKASS!" Ukyou shouted.   
  
"So long, Ranma." The lost boy smiled grimly, then leapt.   
  
"NO!" the three cried out at once. "RYOUGA!"  
  
A little less than a minute later, the ground shook as Ryouga hit the floor. The trio remained silent, then began to turn around.  
  
"DAMN IT!" an angry voice screamed from the floor of the ravine. "Why can't I just die and get it over with?!"  
  
"Ryouga?" Akane called down into the darkness.  
  
"Sugar, are you okay?" Ukyou leaned over the edge.  
  
"Unfortunately, yes." Ryouga grumbled, the echo reaching them.  
  
"You gonna come up, or are you hurt?" Ranma asked.  
  
". . . Do I have a choice?" was the annoyed reply.  
  
"Well, either you come up, or I'll come down. Which is it gonna be?"  
  
". . . I'll come up . . ." Ryouga sighed. "Maybe next time, my neck will break."   
  
"WHAT?!" Ranma about had a coronary right then and there.   
  
"Just a thought." A moment later, Ryouga climbed over the edge of the deep chasm, looking little more worse for wear. His clothes were tattered, and he was extremely dusty, but there wasn't so much as a bruise or a scratch on him.   
  
"Damn it don't do that!" Ranma grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away from the edge. "You almost scared me to death!"  
  
"That would make an interesting headline." Ryouga dead panned. "Nerima's greatest martial artist killed today by a fatal heart attack."  
  
"Please don't scare us again like that, Ryouga." Akane sighed, relaxing.   
  
"What, like this?" Ryouga back-flipped into the ravine a second time, causing the girls to scream, and Ranma to fall down out of pure shock.  
  
There was a resounding crash.   
  
"Guess it didn't work that time, either." Ryouga yelled up to them. "But hey, third time's the charm!"  
  
Ranma twitched.  
  
---  
  
Ryouga lay in the basement of the Nekohaten chained to a wall. The room was dark and musty and the walls were dirty and crusted with scum. Various trinkets lay about the room, left over from the previous owners.  
  
He yanked on the chains irritably. Cologne had used some kind of variation of the moxibustion technique which stripped him of his strength . . . but only temporarily. The effect lasted for only two days but it still was very annoying.  
  
'I still don't understand why I have to stay down here. I can't be _THAT_ bad when I'm in berserker . . . what did they call it again? Berserker rage, mode, stage err . . . damn I forgot again.' His nose twitched irritably wanting someone to scratch it.  
  
'Well at least they gave me a TV . . . but they could have least turned it to a decent channel! I've been watching this damn Sailor Moon marathon all day, and if I didn't want to kill myself before, I sure as hell do now!'  
  
The lost boy growled and pulled at his chains harder.  
  
'I don't need cold water to go berserk! Maybe I could dislocate my joints or something.' He contemplated this for several moments but was saved by the basement door opening.  
  
He squinted his eyes against the light that flooded from the door and looked up at a fully armored samurai emerged from the basement.  
  
"Oh no he's found me! Listen, I'm really sorry about your sporting goods store! I wasn't watching where I was going and-"  
  
The samurai opened up a small flap on its helmet and looked at him with annoyed brown eyes.  
  
"What are you talking about jackass?"  
  
A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.   
  
"Heh . . . heh never mind. I never said that." He looked up at the samurai questionably. "Uh . . . Ukyou?"  
  
The samurai nodded as much as her heavy metal helmet allowed.  
  
"Yeah its me."   
  
"Ukyou, I didn't know you gave up okinomiyaki arts to become a samurai."  
  
She tripped and barely kept herself from plummeting to the ground. Good thing too, she never would have been able to get back up again. She recovered and glared at him, since it was obviously his fault.  
  
"No, Ryouga, I'm going to take you to some training grounds." Ryouga crinkled up his eyebrow in confusion. Something about this didn't seem right.  
  
'Why is Ukyou all alone? Why isn't . . .oh.' He smiled knowingly, but the expression held no mirth.  
  
"Why are you alone?"   
  
Ukyou averted her eyes.  
  
"Akane was supposed to come but--" She bit her lip.  
  
"She was afraid of me wasn't she?" His head sagged, the weight of the world baring down on his shoulders.  
  
"Akane afraid? Are you kidding?" She laughed half heartendly. Ryouga nodded. He knew.  
  
"Aren't you afraid the wild animal will turn on you too?" He looked up and met her eyes. She felt unable to look away from the pain filled green orbs.  
  
"Ryouga how could I ever be afraid of YOU?" She smiled. She was scared as hell but he still needed her help . . .  
  
He knew she was lying but he still felt grateful. He smiled softly.  
  
"Thank you for lying Ukyou."  
  
"Anytime Sugar, anytime. So Ryouga, why are you down here?"  
  
He blushed and shifted in his chains.  
  
"Cologne said she was the best to watch over me and they wouldn't let me sit in a spare room because of this incident I had."  
  
Ukyou shrugged and went to undo the locks of the chains.  
  
"Did you get hit with cold water or what?"  
  
Ryouga blushed, as the chains fell off his hands and feet. He sat on the floor and rubbed his wrists, trying to get rid of the lingering feeling of metal.  
  
"Um . . . no I got lost on my way to the bathroom, they really shouldn't a labyrinth in a restaurant, and there was this wall . . . how was I supposed to know it was a support beam?! . . . and err," Ryouga trailed off as he noticed Ukyou staring at him.  
  
Ukyou blinked a couple times before finally abandoning trying to figure out how a labyrinth, support beam, and the Nekohaten would have to do with Ryouga tied up in a basement watching Sailor Moon. Whatever it was it had to be horrible to have to endure such torture.   
  
"So what's been going on?" Ryouga asked as Ukyou ducked back through the door and came back with a hand full of rope.  
  
"Well, Happy finally came back. He looks horrible! He's all scarred up and everything! It was neat." Ukyou smirked. It was Happosai after all.  
  
---  
  
Somewhere in the Tendo Dojo . . .  
  
A small figure clad in a red and green striped shirt idly scratched the wall leaving deep gashes in the wood.  
  
Finally, he stood up and lifted a bra into the air.  
  
"Ryouga Hibiki you shall pay for what you've done to me! Happosai is dead!"  
  
Thunder and lightning struck in a clear sky for know apparent reason, lightning up a scared face. "Long live--  
  
THE LECHER!"  
  
---  
  
Ryouga sneezed.  
  
Ukyou walked up to her companion who was sitting on the ground and uncoiled a link of rope. Ryouga's eyes widened and his face blushed a deep crimson.  
  
"Hey listen Ukyou! I may not be chasing after Akane anymore or anything . . but it doesn't mean I'm going to do THAT or anything! I'm glad that your over Ranma but we're just friends!"  
  
Ukyou blushed. "YOU IDIOT! Its to tie you up with! Uh . . I mean restrain you! Err I mean . . . Damn it! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"   
  
Ukyou looked for the nearest implement to hit him with. Unfortuantley, he had already done the job himself and was passed out on the floor in a pool of blood. She walked up to him and kicked him a few times.  
  
"Wake up! This is harder to do when you're not awake!" He blinked, realized what she just said, and passed out again.  
  
"Argh! Get your mind out of the damn gutter! I was going to tie you to the wheelbarrow so you wouln't fall out! Remember the moxubustion thing? Your legs don't work right now you idiot!"  
  
He lifted his head and opened one eye cautiously and then other. Finally he sat up and laughed nervously.  
  
"Oh THAT'S what you meant."   
  
"What did you think I was talking about?" Ukyou glared at him with "scorned women glare of death 892" guaranteed to send many a man running in fear. Unfortunatley, she also got it confused with look 102 the 'catch cute man in chinese shirt' alluring gaze. She was really going to have to work on that.  
  
"Nothing ma'am, nothing at all."  
  
"Good." She tied up his arms and helped him into the wheelbarrow. "Are you made up of metal or what?" She wiped the sweat from her forehead.  
  
"Uh sorry?" He blinked as a thought occurred to him. "If your job is just to take me there then why are you wearing all that armor?"  
  
"Ranchan said suggested it. The wheelbarrow was his idea too." She sighed. "He always has such good ideas." Ryouga rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well gee Ukyou, I wish I could be as smart as Ranma someday," Ryouga deadpanned.   
  
Ukyou glared at him.  
  
"When did you start to use sarcasm?"   
  
Ryouga shrugged.  
  
"I dunno, being a danger to society kind of brings out the negative feelings in you."  
  
"And you were all sunshine and giggles before huh? Whatever. Don't insult Ranchan anymore or I'll send this wheelbarrow off a cliff, got it?" She turned the wheelbarrow around and wheeled it up a ramp located next to the stairs.  
  
"I tried that already remember?. . . Wait . . Ranma told you to use the wheelbarrow? So the only reason your taking me is because Ranma asked you to?"  
  
"Sit back and enjoy the ride jackass." She smirked.  
  
---  
  
The green, rolling hills flourished with vegetation and wildlife . . . and were about to be decimated.  
  
Two figures rested amidst the beauty of nature, one who had seen it many times before and never was not inspired by it, and another who's heart was far too damaged to appreciate it anymore.  
  
Ryouga sat in the midst of the wonders of nature, and his dark aura spread like wildfire as he watched the beauty that surrounded him that could never touch his heart. His aura of depression spread slowly, like oil on water, a black shadow stretching over the-- WHAM!  
  
"OWW! What the hell was that for?!" Ryouga scowled at the Amazon matriarch.  
  
"You're getting distracted, boy." Cologne shook her staff at him. "Concentrate on your inner equilibrium."  
  
"And how am I supposed to do that? Weigh myself?"  
  
WHAM!  
  
"Don't you sass me, boy. Sarcasm doesn't suit you."  
  
Ryouga twitched irritably, his scowl darkening.   
  
"Please don't mention suits . . ."  
  
Cologne threatened to bash him with her staff again, so he closed his eyes. A minute later, he opened them again, looking infinitely more cross.  
  
"I can't do this!" he snarled irritatedly.  
  
"Ranma could do it." Cologne prodded. Ryouga's scowl deepened again, and he once more closed his eyes.  
  
"Mantra?" Cologne poked him. The lost boy nearly lost it right then and there, but slowly inhaled and began the long and wordy mantra she had taught him.  
  
"Everything in the universe has a point of equilibrium. This point is the balance center for all life. All life must have a balance. Without this balance, there is chaos. And within chaos, there is destruction. Within balance, there is order. There is destruction in this order, but there is also creation."  
  
Ryouga's expression relaxed slowly as he repeated the mantra, and laxly, his aura receded.  
  
"I must achieve a balance within myself," he whispered. "I must find the calm within the storm, and encompass the yin and yang."  
  
"HEY PORK BUTT!" Ranma's voice yelled loudly next to his ear. Ryouga's eyes snapped open, and his battle aura flared into life around him. WHAM! Cologne's staff connected with the back of his skull again.  
  
"Don't be distracted!" She snapped.  
  
"But--" Ryouga started, but another bash stopped him.  
  
"Do you want to gain control of this or not?" The Chinese matriarch scowled. "If you are going to gain any small amount of control over this rage, then you will not allow that to distract you."   
  
"Whatever . . ." Ryouga sighed. "Everything in the universe has a point of equilibrium. This point is the balance center for all life. All life must have a balance. Without this balance, there is chaos. And within chaos, there is destruction. Within balance, there is order. There is destruction in this order, but there is also creation. I must achieve a balance within myself. I must find the calm within the storm, and encompass the yin and yang."  
  
"I SAID, HEY PORK BUTT!" Ranma's taunt again hit home, breaking Ryouga from his trance.   
  
"RANMA, PREPARE--" WHAM. And so the process continued several more times.   
  
By sunset, Ryouga had gone through the mantra seventeen times, each and everyone loosing his temper. Once, he came very close to blocking out the distraction, but Akane's voice had called out: "Ryouga, you're such an asshole. Get over yourself!" And he had been forced to Shi Shi Hokoudan the whole area.   
  
Cologne had not been pleased.  
  
For one week, the cycle went on. After a week, the park ran out of green, rolling hills, and they were forced to resort to the mountains. Not as much fun, but there was more for Ryouga to take out his anger on before blowing everything to kingdom come.  
  
Three days into the second week, Ryouga got lost.  
  
---  
  
Chapter Six:  
  
Ryouga trudged through knee deep mud. It had rained the night before soaking the ground completely. Luckily, he had been able to get shelter. He tried his best to stay dry. After all, he just didn't have to worry about himself now when he was changed. Changing into a pig was nothing compared with changing into a bloodthirsty killer. The waterproof soap and temporary man water helped a bit, provided he was able to keep puting it on.  
  
The dark gray sky did nothing to improve his already dark mood. If nothing it reflected his emotions, hovering between calm weather and a violent raging storm.  
  
He really needed a release from all this stress. Normally, he would be cursing Ranma in all the different languages he knew (he mostly knew the swear words) but lately, cursing Saotome had become less enjoyable. He wasn't exactly sure why though.  
  
Maybe it was because, if wished him dead now, and he _DID_ drop dead, it might hurt Akane's feelings. Yeah, that was it. It wasn't like they were friends or anything.  
  
His woodland surroundings slowly gave away to paved suburban streets. Taking care to avoid the various puddles littered about the ground, he walked up to a local.  
  
"Excuse me sir, where am I?" The person turned around, revealing Ranma Saotome. Ryouga tried to contain a shudder of disgust. He'd just called Ranma sir!  
  
"Wow Ryouga! Good thing you're here. Everyone thought you were going to go on a killing spree before we got to you."  
  
Ryouga glared at his ex-rival, also known as the cause of all his problems.  
  
"That's not funny Ranma." He hung his head sadly as a faint blue aura formed around him.  
  
Ranma noticed but as usual his mouth turned out to be faster than his brain.  
  
"Are you sure you haven't sliced anyone up somewhere? Er....oops."  
  
Ryouga looked up slowly.   
  
"No, Ranma I haven't killed anyone . . . yet."  
  
A bead of sweat slowly rolled down Ranma's brow as Ryouga slowly reached for his umbrella. He lifted it up and--  
  
"YOU JACKASS!"  
  
CLANG!  
  
Ryouga fell to the ground, narrowly missing a large mud puddle. Ukyou, the enraged Okinomiyaki chef, loomed over him doing a good impression of Soun's demon head.  
  
"Do you have any idea how worried I--err we were about you?!"  
  
Ryouga stood up shakily and rubbed the spot she had hit him at. A bump was already forming.  
  
"I'm sorry. I was just trying to find the bathroom and--"  
  
"You were outside damn it! They're were no bathrooms!"  
  
Ryouga stopped rubbing his head, finding that the bump had already healed. This should have been a good thing, except now Ukyou would be less "reserved" to hit him with that damn spatula. You really should need a license or something to carry that around.  
  
Akane walked up behind Ranma. Her sneakers made small squeaky noises as she approached.  
  
"Ryouga! Your back! We were really worried!"  
  
Ryouga put a hand behind his head and laughed nervously. He had given up on Akane, but it still hurt sometimes. He still was in denial about what happened with Akari. He didn't think about it and tried to block it out of his mind. Whatever happened was bad and he just couldn't deal with it right now.  
  
"Hey, Ryouga come on. The old ghoul said that your training was a flop and that we're going to ship you off to gaijin land anyway."  
  
The lost boy blinked.   
  
"Gaijin Land? Isn't that a theme park?"  
  
Everyone but Ryouga face-faulted. Ukyou recovered first.   
  
"No you idiot! Your thinking of DISNEY LAND."  
  
"Oh I remember that place! Scary, surrounded by water with a bunch of weird pigmy children running around." Ryouga shuddered as the group stared at him for several moments.  
  
"Pigmy children?" Ranma shook his head to clear it and grabbed Ryouga's hand. "Come on p-chan we're gonna see Cologne." Ryouga was dragged away, unceremoniously. Ukyou and Akane followed behind them. They didn't get too close though, just in case.  
  
"Damn it Ranma stop pulling me! . . . wait . . . WHO YOU CALLIN P-CHAN?!"   
  
---  
  
Three days later, Akane, Cologne, Ranma, Ryouga, and Ukyou stood in the terminal for the airport. The lost boy would board a plane using the ticket he won in the martial arts obstacle course race, which thankfully, had been open ended.   
  
"Be careful in America, Ryouga." Akane smiled weakly, still not one hundred percent sure about his mood.  
  
"I will." He smiled just as weakly, stressed by the destroyed trust between himself and his friends.   
  
"Don't get too lost, okay pork butt?" Ranma grinned in the same, superior manner he always did. Ryouga scowled, but his aura remained within a one inch radius of his body.  
  
"Take care of your fiancée, Ranma." He growled, eyes narrowing. "And don't forget to keep putting medicine on your cuts." The pigtailed martial artist sweat-dropped.   
  
"Hey, Jackass, go easy on Ran-chan." Ukyou prodded him in the ribs with her spatula, which no one knew how she got through the metal detectors with.   
  
Flashback  
  
Akane walks through the metal detector, and there is no problem.   
  
Ranma walks through the metal detector, and it beeps. He backs up, and takes off his watch, grinning in an embarrassed manner. He walks through with no problem.  
  
Ukyou walked up to the machine with her spatula strapped to her back, glared at it, and then walked through. The machine sweat-dropped, but remained silent.  
  
Ryouga heaved a sigh and walked up to the metal detector.   
  
It went off.  
  
He backed up, looked for anything he was wearing that could contain metal, emptied out his pockets of several handfuls of change from Kami knows how many countries, and tried again.  
  
The machine still went off.  
  
Two guards walked up to him with miniature detectors, which went wild the second they started scanning him.  
  
Everyone sweat-dropped.  
  
"They must be malfunctioning," the security guards scowled at their machines. "Go on through. You don't look too dangerous." The Nerima clan sweat-dropped.  
  
Present time  
  
"Hey, Bacon breath, do you even speak English?" Ranma smirked. Ryouga stiffened.   
  
"For your information, infidel, my grasp of the English language far exceeds your grasp of the Japanese language." The lost boy retorted in perfect, hardly accented English.  
  
Ranma and Ukyou gaped. Akane, who was taking an English course, looked mildly confused.  
  
"AND you have poor fashion sense, you ill mannered bastard. It's a wonder you've gotten through life without people thinking you're some kind of psycho!"  
  
The lost boy flushed, putting his hand behind his neck and looking away.   
  
"Ano.... my mother taught me....." He glanced at the floor. "She said it'd come in handy, when I ran into my dad. Japanese wasn't his first language, and he was still a little rough. I think a few words she taught me are a bit archaic, though."  
  
"Here." Ukyou scowled, shoving a package at him.  
  
"What's this?" He blinked, startled by the sudden change of topic.  
  
"We all chipped in and got you something." The chef shrugged, trying to look impassive. "Just so you won't get cold in America."  
  
Ryouga teared up.   
  
"You guys... got a present for me?" He threw his arms open and embraced the three of them at the same time, nearly crushing them in the process. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever done fore me! Thank you!"  
  
"ACK! RYOUGA! AIR!" Akane, Ranma, and Ukyou cried out. The lost boy started from his happy reverie, and released them nervously.   
  
"Oops, sorry." He blushed bright red.   
  
"Passenger flight 843 to New York, now boarding." The overly saccharine voice of a stewardess came on through the intercom.  
  
"Oh, yeah." Ryouga smiled weakly, his fangs still giving him a rakish appearance.   
  
"See you guys around!" The lost boy turned and walked into the tunnel that connected the terminal to the plane. Ranma and Ukyou waved.... but Akane looked up and saw the sign above the door.   
  
"SHOOT! Ranma, he just got on the plane to Alberta, Canada! Not New York!"  
  
WHAM! Mallet-sama collided with Ranma once more.  
  
"RYOUGA, YOU JACKASS!" Ukyou yelled.  
  
Ryouga sat down in his coach seat. A young girl next to him with short black hair turned toward him and grinned.  
  
"Excited about going to Canada eh?" she asked in a fake Canadian accent. The fact that a cute girl was talking to him was momentarily blocked out as what she said registered.  
  
"Canada?!"   
  
He turned around to get off the plane but it was too late.  
  
The plane had already taken off.  
  
---  
  
Chapter Seven:  
  
Ryouga lay hunched in his seat with his head on the airplane window.   
  
"Stupid Ranma," he muttered under his breath.   
  
Flashback  
  
Ryouga squinted his eyes at the sign.   
  
"Ranma, what gate is it?"   
  
Ranma pointed to the southern gate.  
  
"It's that one." At least he thought it was that one. Canada was a state right?  
  
Ryouga looked at him suspiciously.   
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Maybe you should go over and check it for yourself?"   
  
"Shut up!" He took a swing at the pigtailed martial artist, completely forgetting his suspicion.  
  
End flashback  
  
The teenage girl sitting next to him raised an eyebrow as her fellow passenger squeezed his arm rest so hard he left finger indents. She then leaned in next to him.   
  
"Gee, what did that armrest ever do to you?"  
  
Ryouga blinked. That cute girl was talking to him! Better say something suave . . .  
  
"Uh . . . Huh?"  
  
"Hi I'm Jubilee." She held her hand out and Ryouga numbly shook it while desperately trying to regain control of his thought processes.  
  
"I'm Ryouga." He managed to mutter out. Jubilee winked at him.  
  
"Ryouga . . . cute name."  
  
"Th-Thanks." He laughed nervously.  
  
"So what 'cha going to Canada for Ryouga? Romance, revenge, terrorism?"  
  
Ryouga blinked. "Terrorism?"  
  
Jubilee smirked. "Terrorism, eh? Is that your final answer?"  
  
Ryouga waved his hands in front of his face.   
  
"I'm not a terrorist really! Well, . . . there was this time that I accidentally blew a hole in the United Nations building, but that wasn't my fault!"  
  
Jubilee blinked . . . several times. Why couldn't she sit next to someone normal? At least he was cute. Still . . . she better make sure of some things.  
  
"You don't know anyone named Magneto do you Ryouga?"   
  
"Magnets? You mean like the kind you put on your refrigerator?"  
  
Jubilee spit out the soda she was drinking in surprise. Ryouga yelled and jumped up in his seat. He missed the spray but hit the top of the overhead compartment.  
  
"Oops sorry about that, my bad." Jubilee laughed to herself. "Hope you didn't get brain damage or anything." Ryouga rubbed his head, even though the bruise was already gone. Why did he always run into the psycho women?  
  
"Hey, Jubes, who ya talking to?" A pretty long haired blond asked from behind Ryouga. Jubes smiled evilly and grabbed Ryouga's arm.   
  
"My new boyfriend, ya like him?" Ryouga's eyes bulged out of his head and he desperately tried to keep his nose from bleeding.   
  
"I think your scaring the poor cute boy, Jubes." The blond winked at him.  
  
A girl sitting next to her stopped shredding the paper on her pop bottle and looked up. She brought up a dark skinned hand and brushed her long hair out of her face.  
  
"Jubilee you should stop manhandling the boy." Jubilee stuck her tongue out at the girl.  
  
"Gee Monet I was only having a little fun."  
  
Ryouga was trying to keep himself from breaking down. 'Pretty...girls...all around...me....scary...brazen...psycho American girls...brain....going....in...overload.'  
  
Luckily, or unluckily depending on the way you looked at it, he was saved by two young men in the seats directly in front of him. One had dark gray skin, (skin disease perhaps?), and the other's was covered with a scarf from the lips down. Neither seemed to be very friendly toward him.  
  
'Great Hibiki. They're probably their boyfriends. Your doomed. You'll end up accidentally releasing a Shishi Hokoudan then the plane will go down and everyone will die. Great, just great! Go on a plane Ryouga! It'll be fun!'  
  
"Hey, chicas, was going on?" the gray skinned guy asked, narrowing his eyes at Ryouga. The lost boy narrowed his eyes right back. He wasn't going to let some weird elephant guy psych him out.  
  
"Is this bloke bothering ya?" the scarfed one added in, similarly narrowing his eyes.  
  
Ryouga waved his hands in front of his face. He could take the guys any day, they didn't look so tough, but a plane was not a place he wanted to start a fight.  
  
"Hey, I'm sorry. I'll move to another seat. I didn't mean to make your boyfriends mad."  
  
Multiple people spit out their sodas, and the gray skinned guy started to choke on a Twizzler. Ryouga had a fun time dodging them all. Damn it! Couldn't these people keep their food in their mouths? Weird Americans. If this was the way everyone acted...  
  
He shuddered.  
  
"We are not _NOT_ their boyfriends." The scarfed guy rubbed his temples. He seemed to be the only one not eating anything. He was giving Ryouga some really weird vibes. He could have sworn he saw a light under that scarf. Did he have a lava lamp stuffed under there or what?  
  
"Oh, uh . . . sorry."  
  
The teens continued to bickered between him as the hours passed. He decided that the scarf guy and the pretty blond reminded him of Akane and Ranma. Monet was like an immovable stone wall and possibly the only person who didn't bother him. He had a hard time following what the gray skinned guy said, something about "home boys"? And Jubilee . . .he hoped with every fiber of his being she wasn't the normal average American.  
  
'Please . . .please . . . Kami-sama don't let her be . . .'  
  
Oh yes, his American trip, was going to be _FUN_.  
  
---  
  
At last, the plane landed. Following Jubilee, the lost boy managed to exit the jet and return to the safety of solid ground.   
  
"It was nice flying with you, Ryouga." She beamed at him.  
  
"Aheh... yeah...." The bandanna wearing youth grinned weakly, showing his fangs again.   
  
"So... ah... I… I'll se--"   
  
"DIE, DAMN MUTIE SCUM!" A man wearing a shirt bearing the letters FOH leapt forward out of the crowd, waving a gun at Ryouga's recent traveling companions.   
  
While his new 'friends' took up archaic fighting stances, Ryouga brought his palms together, and then let a small ki ball form between them.   
  
"Shishi Hokoudan." The blast shot forward, nailing the man square in the chest and sending him flying onto the luggage carousel, where he lay on his back with swirl-y eyes.   
  
Those of his new companions with jaws allowed them to drop reasonably low.   
  
"Gee, I hate getting interrupted..." Ryouga mused. "Where was I? Oh, right. See you around!" He waved and walked off, quickly disappearing into the crowds.  
  
One week later, Ryouga was thoroughly lost in the great , vast wilderness that made up a great deal of Canada.  
  
---  
  
Somewhere in the cargo hold on the plane a great evil stirred. It was ready to wreak havoc on a new continent. It was ready...  
  
FOR PANTIES.  
  
--  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
Rouge undressed and turned on the shower knob. Quickly she jumped into the shower and pulled the curtain close.  
  
Somewhere in the shadows..."IT" lurked.  
  
It snickered to itself and straightened its red overalls and red toupee. She would never seen it coming. Slowly he stalked up to the shower stall. His victim was too busy putting shampoo in her hair to notice.  
  
He ripped open the shower curtain as violin music started to play from out of nowhere. His victim looked up in surprise.  
  
"Play with me sweetums!" He jumped and glomped onto her, ready to feed his perversion. Except . . . something wasn't right.  
  
"Wait.....ahhhhhhh!" The evil lecher's life force was drained away almost completely before she threw him off. He landed at the bottom of the bathtub and looked up at the ceiling as the water slowly went down the drain.  
  
She shuddered, grabbed a towel, and ran out of the bathroom.   
  
"I've got to warn all the cute guys of the intruder!" Rouge stopped and blinked. Where did that come from? And why did she suddenly feel an affection for bombs and underwear?  
  
--   
  
Being lost wasn't fun. Being lost in the wilderness was even less fun. Being lost in a wilderness on a different continent while trying to search for a man that you've never met to help you with your tendency to go berserk and kill things randomly brought new meaning to the not fun category.  
  
And people wondered why Ryouga was always depressed.  
  
"Damn it! Every tree looks the same! Damn pine trees!" He kicked said pine tree down in aggravated. It fell and created a domino effect throughout the forest.  
  
--  
  
Somewhere close by . . .  
  
Victor Creed, a man that liked to have his pie and kill it too, was walking through the forest. He had grown bored with the monotonous forest. He was itching for something, or someone, to kill. He sniffed the air and smiled. With his excellent vision he could see a young traveler, couldn't have been more than nineteen, walking aimlessly through the forest.  
  
"Look, fresh meat." He readied himself and pounced.  
  
Or that's what he would have done had the tree not fell on him.  
  
And he would have gotten right back up too if another tree hadn't fallen on him, and another . . . and another...  
  
--  
  
"Oops." Ryouga rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He had gotten a little carried away. Good thing no one was around or they could have gotten hurt. He picked up his pack and walked away from the pile of wood. If he had been paying better attention, he would have heard the growl of guttural rage emanating from the wood pile.  
  
Several more minutes of walking brought him to a ravine overlooking a vast valley. A majestic waterfall stood at the mouth, its crystal clear water sparkled in the midday sun. Overcome by the beauty he stood mesmerized and defenseless from the killer creeping upon him until--  
  
"Oh look a quarter!" He bent down as Creed went flying over his head and into the valley below.  
  
SPLASH!  
  
Ryouga stood up and pocketed the quarter. He scratched his head.  
  
"I wonder what that sound was? There sure are strange animals around here . . .   
  
With a shrug, he turned around and headed the other way. If he had stayed any longer he would have heard the guttural roar from the bottom of the valley.  
  
--  
  
Lightening and thunder warred in the sky. Ryouga Hibiki crouched lower under his umbrella. Only a few hours ago it had been sunny and beautiful, and now a massive storm had descended upon the forest. The weather patterns were so eradicate it was like being in Nerima . . . only there were more pines. He suspected that he'd smell like the inside of a taxi cab for the rest of his life.  
  
He stopped next to a large pine. With the wind blowing so hard, and trying to keep dry, his visibility was extremely low. Someone could easily attack him by surprise.  
  
Which was just what the figure in the tree was counting on as he clenched his fist in anticipation. The annoying kid in yellow and black (he really hated those colors) was finally going to meet his end. There was no escape.  
  
BOOM! CRASH!  
  
Ryouga jumped back as lightening struck the tree he had been standing next to. It was a black charred piece of ash. Luckily, the rain had made the foliage damp enough so there would be no fire.  
  
"Man that was close!" He laughed and continued his trek through the woods.   
  
Creed, the black charred mess, lay on the forest floor; his world a kaleidoscope of pain. Perhaps, it would be best to lay here for a few hours, or days, or maybe weeks . . .  
  
---  
  
Ucchan's Okonomiyaki shop was closed for the evening. Inside, however, life was still bustling. Three people sat around the grill, one cleaning, and two drinking sodas.  
  
To the right, a small TV blared out news from across the world. The anchorman sat as his desk in his expensive suit, shuffling papers and speaking, when someone off screen handed him a new sheet.  
  
"This just in," he reported. "The terminal outside of the Japanese-Canadian landing strip was attacked brutally today but anti-mutant terrorists." A picture of Ryouga, a Chinese girl, a blonde girl, and several other teenagers appeared behind him, showing the terrorist behind them with his gun.  
  
"Fortunately, the attacker was put down by a mysterious young man who disappeared before police arrived on the scene."  
  
Ranma blinked. Akane set down her soda. Ukyou peered closer at the TV.   
  
"Was that.... Ryouga!?" The chef cried out.   
  
"Pork-butt actually made it?" Ranma said. Akane whapped him.  
  
"Don't tease poor Ryouga." She glared at him.  
  
"What, have you ever seen him get to where he was going?" Ranma scowled back.  
  
"He was with us on Togenkyo, and he didn't get lost once while we were there." The short haired girl noted.   
  
"He found me." Ukyou shrugged. Akane and Ranma spun on her.   
  
"OH! So that's how you got away from the monkey-man." He grinned. "I wondered why you were being so nice to him after that..."  
  
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!" Ukyou smashed her Mega Spatula into Ranma's face.   
  
"I think it's sweet..." Akane beamed.  
  
The television continued to report the news. "Sources say that the monster of Daytona beach has stolen several women's bathing suit tops. Scientists speculate it was for its nests. More news on our environment report."  
  
Ranma blinked. "Has anyone seen Happosai lately?"  
  
---  
  
  
Chapter Nine:  
  
The hills seemed endless. Endless rolling blankets of green that seemed to extend to the ends of the earth. A flock of wild geese flew in an elegant V-shape overhead. Down below a heard of caribou roamed, eating happily. The chilly wind promised snow in the future. In other words?  
  
It must be Canada.  
  
'At least I hope I'm in Canada.' Ryouga peered closely at his map, unaware that it was upside down. It also happen to be a map of West Virginia.  
  
'Why the hell does it need all these squiggle lines anyway?' He crumpled up the map angrily and threw it over his shoulder; not giving a damn about pollution or Indians that cry when you litter on commercials.   
  
'Those Alpha Flight people had been nice to give me directions. I still think it's a weird name for ski resort. Why does everyone I run into seem to be wearing spandex? Is it a new trend or what?' He shrugged and shifted the weight of his backpack.  
  
'What am I doing here? Do I even deserve a cure? After all the horrible things I've done . . . after what I did to Akari. . . . What _DID_ I do to Akari?' He shook his head violently.  
  
'Damn it I can't remember!' He paused. 'Do I even want to remember? . . . Turning into a little pig was better than this. Ok, so it was kind of cool being able to beat up Ranma, but I never wanted to kill him!'   
  
He blinked.  
  
'Well, I don't want to kill him anymore. What would Akane have thought of me if I had killed Ranma? What . . . what if I had killed Ukyou? Or Akane?'  
  
He felt a knife twist through his heart as the possibilities raced through his mind. He couldn't take it anymore!  
  
"SHISHI HODOKAN!"  
  
--  
  
Another traveler raised his head as a sound reached his ears. It was too far away for even him to be able to identify. But he knew it had held such familiar pain . . .  
  
--  
  
Hours later, Ryouga found himself in the middle of a grassy glade, still lost. The sun was setting across the horizon, bathing the sky in brilliant hues of red and orange. An icy wind blew softly from the north.  
  
"Damn," Ryouga swore. "I hate the cold...."  
  
"You an' me both, kid." A gruff, smoker's voice chuckled from somewhere behind him. Ryouga spun around, confused at how someone was able to sneak up on him.   
  
"Who are you?" The lost boy's hazel-green eyes narrowed.   
  
"Not important. Just another traveler."  
  
The man in question was short, even a few inches shorter than Ryouga. He wore a heavy jacket, jeans, flannel shirt, and boots. His wild black hair swept up into points, which would have been weird had the Lost Boy not been familiar with anti-gravity hair thanks to Ranma.   
  
"Care for company, to share yer fire?" He gestured to the roaring campfire Ryouga had going.  
  
Ryouga shrugged. With this new healing ability, there was little chance that even if this guy was a bandit, he couldn't take him. Even though the guy did look a lot sturdier than Ryouga himself . . .  
  
"Thanks, kid." The man sat down and removed a cigarette from his jacket pocket, lighting it in the flames and inhaling deeply before blowing out a cloud of smoke.  
  
"Smoking is bad for your health, you know." Ryouga arched one eyebrow. The man let out a hearty laugh at the lost boy's statement.   
  
"Kid, these things can kill thousands o' people, but they'll never kill me."   
  
Ryouga shrugged. "It's your life."  
  
"So . . . you a fighter?" The bandanna wearing martial artist asked later, uncomfortable with the heavy silence.  
  
"Ya noticed?"  
  
"Your choice of clothing doesn't do a good job of hiding a strong build."  
  
"Ah. I fight, a bit."  
  
"So then the muscle mass is from weight training?"   
  
"Yer pretty observant, for a kid."  
  
"I'm a fighter, too."  
  
"You?" Once more, the man laughed. "Ya don't look it at all."   
  
"Eh?!"  
  
"Well, ya look kinda young . . . what style do ya use?"   
  
Ryouga hung his head, letting shadows fall over his face.   
  
"It's a conglomeration . . ." He sighed.   
  
"Oh? That's nothing to be ashamed o', kid. Take the strongest moves . . . nothing wrong with that. Just as long as yer good."   
  
"Oh, I'm good." Ryouga's scowl turned into a smirk. "I can prove it, too. Wanna spar? Loser cleans up camp tomorrow."  
  
"Sounds fun." the man cracked his knuckles.  
  
Both stood, and moved a short distance from the camp. Ryouga watched his opponent carefully, so as not to get lost.   
  
They faced off, sizing each other up for a moment, trying to figure out the other's weaknesses from the mere stance.  
  
"C'mon, old man, what're you waiting for?" Ryouga smirked.   
  
"Kid, you sure yer a fighter? I've seen a lot o' men with more bark than bite... An' lots' o' them looked like they coulda packed a punch, too. You.... yer scrawny, for Pete's sake."  
  
Ryouga's face went red. "SCRAWNY?!" He yelled. "I'll show you scrawny!" He punched directly down, embedding his arm up to his elbow in solid rock. Logan arched one eyebrow in amusement.   
  
As easy as if he was lifting foam blocks, the lost boy tore out a huge chunk of earth and chucked it as the shorter, stockier fighter. Logan's claws slipped from their grisly sheaths, and cut through the stone like butter before retracting.  
  
"Nice trick."  
  
Ryouga's eyes widened slightly as the two halves of rock crumbled to each side. 'What was that?!' He was sure the rock would have nearly hit, not too hard, of course, but enough to show the man he was a force to be reckoned with.   
  
"Got any more tricks up yer sleeves, boy?" Logan's grin was feral, his steel-blue eyes excited at the prospect of an honorable challenge. For once, his opponent would not be a hologram, a robot, or a dishonorable bag of fleas. A chance to put to the test all the things he learned in Japan, but never got to use on the field due to his enemy's lack of honor or knowledge of bushido.  
  
Ryouga scowled. "I don't know how you did it, but it won't do you any good in our battle, old man."   
  
"Let's go." Logan smiled, motioning for Ryouga to attack. Ryouga's mind was racing. He'd seen Ranma do the same taunt before, always getting him to charge. The first move.... make your enemy come to you.  
  
"Yer better than I thought!" Logan laughed. "Ya didn't jump right in to battle . . . good."   
  
"I'm not the brightest guy around, but I do learn, eventually." Ryouga admitted, never once taking his eyes off his opponent. When it was apparent that neither one was going to make the first attack, Ryouga caved. He flipped forward quickly, driving his left foot ground-wards in a sharp kick.  
  
Logan twisted to the side to avoid it, and countered with a right punch. The blow didn't connect, though, because Ryouga had rolled with the move and was already behind his opponent. He jabbed, but Logan dodged that as well, displaying his skill at close range fighting.  
  
The lost boy tried to kick Logan, but the older man managed to dodge once more, and Ryouga flipped backwards, catching him in the chin with his foot. This put distance between them, and gave the youth credit for first attack.   
  
"Not bad." Logan admitted, rolling his neck to get cricks out of it. For some reason, Ryouga could swear he head heard metal... he ignored it, focusing on the older so that he could try and read attacks to come.  
  
"I try." The lost boy assented.   
  
"Try this." Logan lunged, adding kicks and punches, about half of which Ryouga blocked, and the other half which slipped through his guard. The lost boy wiped some blood from his lips, blood that had escaped before his new healing factor eradicated the wound. It was rather impressive really, to make him bleed at all.  
  
He stretched, then quickly slipped back into his fighting position.   
  
"You're not bad either, for an old man." Ryouga watched him for a minute, then shifted out of his stance. Logan let out a hearty laugh, relaxing.   
  
"Nice sparring with ya, kid." Logan grinned.   
  
"You too, old man." They shook hands, at which point, Logan flipped Ryouga. The lost boy caught on quickly though, and landed on his feet, before flipping Logan on his back.   
  
'Not as dumb as he looks....' Logan noted sourly.  
  
"So tell me, old man, how'd you get rid of that pebble I threw at you?" Ryouga wondered aloud sometime later.   
  
"Ya really wanna know?" Logan leaned in closer, as if the secret had to be kept at all costs.  
  
"If you know some kind of technique, I'd love to learn it from you." The lost boy replied. Logan held up his right fist, palm facing himself, and steeled his jaw as he sent the trio of gleaming adamantium claws through his skin.  
  
"These babies will cut through anything."  
  
Then the Junsenkyo victim's luck held true, as the area experienced a sudden spring shower. Unfortunately for Logan, Ryouga didn't have time to grab his umbrella, and got drenched.  
  
The lost boy's eyes quickly went from soft brown-green to sharp blood-red, something that did not escape Logan's notice. Six similar talons shot forth from the top of Ryouga's hands, and his muscles tensed as he pulled back into a pouncing position. Wolverine was not smiling anymore.  
  
Quick as the wind, the X-man grabbed the nearest thing to him and flung it at the Nerima Martial artist, in an attempt to distract him and gain some ground to fight in. The kettle that had sat over the fire smashed into Ryouga's face, spilling water all down his front, and causing him to fall over with swirl-y eyes.  
  
Logan blinked, and saw that the red was gone from his companion's gaze. He sat him up against a tree, careful not to get the lost boy wet again. He saw when the change in his sparring partner's demeanor had taken place, and, despite popular opinion, Logan was a rather intelligent man. He didn't always talk like Hank McCoy, but then again, he was above human...  
  
"Yo, kid, you okay?" He shook Ryouga gently, but the martial artist was out cold. Logan scowled, and picked up the youth's hand, from which the deadly metal claws still protruded. 'These should have retracted...' he thought.  
  
"Wait a second, where the hell did he get these?!"   
  
"Wha... whasat?" The lost boy blinked, looking dazedly at the older man who was examining his claws-- HIS WHAT?!  
  
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Ryouga stared at his claws in mortification, while Wolverine scowled.   
  
"Who the hell are you, kid?" The older man demanded.   
  
"Ryouga…" The talons disappeared back to wherever they had come from with a soft snikt.   
  
"Ryouga, eh? Well, Ryouga, you're going to tell me exactly what's going on, starting with what happened when it started raining..."  
  
--  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
A little more than a half an hour after their encounter, Ryouga had given Logan the basics of life in Nerima. The elder's eyes had gone as wide as dinner plates, or at least, saucers, throughout the parts where any Junsenkyo curse was involved.  
  
"So, now I'm looking all over the country for a guy I've never even met." Ryouga sighed.  
  
"What's this man's name?" Steel-blue eyes narrowed in anticipation.  
  
"Well, my sensei-of sorts called him Logan, but the guy back at that metal place said his name kinda funny...." The Lost Boy shrugged. "So I'm not sure if I've got the pronunciation right. So.... what's the deal with you, and your claws?" He gestured to the razor sharp talons that still gleamed from the top of his companion's hand. The man retracted his claws, and held out his hand in the American custom of handshakes.  
  
"Name's Logan." He scowled. "Nice ta meet ya."  
  
Ryouga gaped. "No way. Are you serious?" Logan nodded once, his expression reading 'no nonsense'. The lost boy bowed low, his own customs overriding foreign ones.  
  
"Logan-san, it's an honor to finally meet you," a tear of joy ran down his face, relaxation seeping to his very bones.  
  
"Er...... kid, I've got news for ya." Logan rubbed the back of his neck. "There ain't no cure for Berserker's Rage. It's something ya gotta live with for the rest o' yer life."  
  
Ryouga looked up sharply, eyes widened and full of sorrow.   
  
"I can teach ya a couple o' anger management techniques, but that's about it..."  
  
"Shit." He leaned back against a tree, tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm doomed. It's no use, I'll never be normal again...... I just know I'll end up killing someone I love...... And I can't even put myself out of their misery......."  
  
"You've tried suicide?" Logan glared at him.   
  
"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I want to die, but..." Ryouga sighed. "I don't want to hurt any of them.... And if I stay like this.... I just know I'm, going to seriously injure one of my friends..... if not kill them....."  
  
"I know what you mean."  
  
The younger man glanced over at his companion.  
  
"Every time I go into battle alongside my friends, I risk losing control...." Logan stared down at his hands, his own eyes staring at blood only he could see.   
  
"I don't want to hurt any of them, but all I'm good for is fighting...."  
  
"The battle is all we live for." Logan's eyes focused on the stars. "The cause is always distant."  
  
"You mentioned some friends, earlier." The bandanna wearing martial artist noted. "Were any of them, by chance, a guy wearing a brown trench coat, a red-headed woman, and a really uptight guy with some kind of weird visor?"   
  
"You've met them?"  
  
"Once.... they told me you were back in Canada."   
  
"Ah." The older man smiled faintly. "Those were my friends..... the X-men..... I'm sure you've heard of us?"  
  
Ryouga shook his head 'no'. "Sorry," he shrugged. "I don't get to watch a lot of TV.... I'm on the road a lot."   
  
"Oh yeah, that direction-less thing...."  
  
"It's hereditary." Ryouga shrugged. "On my mother's side. Dad had no problem getting around.... from what Mom said.... but... he left." Logan resisted the urge to pat the boy on the head. The last thing he needed was to end up as another father figure.  
  
"He probably had another life to lead…" Logan shrugged.   
  
"That's what Mom said." Ryouga muttered glumly. He shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to do.  
  
"Wish I knew what to tell you, kid."   
  
"It's all right, Logan-san. I came to terms with this a long time ago." Ryouga's hazel-green eyes were strangely calm.  
  
"My father had wander-lust, even though he had a sense of direction." Ryouga sighed. "Mom said that, too."  
  
"What's your mother like?" Logan asked, a small smirk playing at the corners of his lips.  
  
"My mother is like an angel on earth," Ryouga smiled brightly. "She's the nicest, kindest, most decent human being I've ever met, which is saying something, with all the traveling I do. She's always tried to be there for me, even with her directional problem. She always understood exactly what the problem was, and how to fix it."  
  
Ryouga turned knowing, sharp eyes on Logan. "She's off limits."  
  
"I don't know what yer talking about...."Logan felt a drop of sweat roll down his face, and was glad that he didn't blush.  
  
"Just making sure." Ryouga nodded and turned his gaze back to the campfire.   
  
Logan smirked. "She must have been a very interesting women if she raised ya, Ryouga."  
  
Ryouga blinked. Was that an insult or a compliment?  
  
"Well, it's getting late, kid." He started rummaging through his pack and pulled out his sleeping bag. Something about this didn't sit well with Ryouga. When had he said he could stay at HIS camp?  
  
He looked over and noticed he was already asleep.   
  
"Goodnight Logan-san." Ryouga sighed and stared at the dying embers of the fire as they slowly dwindled down to ashes, lost in his own thoughts.  
  
--  
  
For the first time in many, many years, Logan dreamed of something other than the Weapon X project.   
  
That night, he dreamed of a woman he hadn't seen in over sixteen years, the only woman who he hadn't lost to an enemy's claws or another man.  
  
"Logan-san? Logan-san?" Arieru always had a somewhat confused look on her face.  
  
"Eh?" He glanced to her as she gripped his arm tightly. A little too tightly. "Arieru-san, I'm losing circulation to my hand..."   
  
"Gomen nasai!" She immediately loosened her hold. Arieru had always been a bit awkward.... but she had a good heart. Most of the time.   
  
"Logan-san! It's our three month anniversary!"  
  
"Our what?"  
  
"You mean you forgot?!" WHAM! CRACK!  
  
That was her biggest fault. Arieru had a fiery temper, and when she was mad, she very well fit her name: Loud-Sounding Lioness.  
  
They finally came to the top of the ravine. Logan fell back to read a small sign that was covered with some underbrush and Arieru walked on ahead to the edge.  
  
"Logan-san, isn't it beautiful out here?" She twirled around in circle with her hands held out. "Aren't you glad we came up here now? It's so romantic. Perfect place for a picnic!"  
  
Logan mumbled something incoherently and pulled weeds from a sign.   
  
"Are you paying attention to me, Logan? Hello?!"  
  
Logan kept pulling out the weeds, not bothering to look up.   
  
"Not as beautiful as you, Arieru." He muttered absently.  
  
Arieru giggled. "Good answer." She looked over the edge at the churning river below. "Wow, that's pretty far down." She shuddered. She had never been a big fan of water.  
  
Logan finished removing the last weed from the sign and read it out loud.  
  
"Beware of landslides. . . Arieru get out of there!"  
  
She looked back just as the edge of the cliff began to give. Even with her martial arts experience she didn't have time to get out of the way. Time slowed and her eyes met Logan's as she fell over the edge. Her hand was outstretched for help that wouldn't reach there in time.  
  
Time resumed its normal course as Logan threw himself over to the remainder of the cliff. Somehow the rock didn't give away and Logan was tortured with the image of his love falling down the cliff into the icy waters below.   
  
He held his head in his hands as tears streamed down his face and screamed out her name in anguish.  
  
"Arieru!!!!!"  
  
The cry became reality as Logan bolted up in his sleeping bag, sweat pouring off his muscled form.   
  
He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw his companion was still sleeping peacefully. It wouldn't do to burden him with his private pain. He rolled over and waited for sleep to come. He wasn't really sure he wanted it to, though …  
  



	3. Chapters 11-15

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is owned by people other than me. I own nothing and claim no rights to the show.  
  
**C&C, public or private, is appreciated. Since most of the fic is already written, we prefer grammar help. If you have a burning desire to give other C&C though, we will take it with a smile.**  
  
by:  
  
Ashes2ashes: slayer0@Zoomnet.net  
AsheRhyder: ashrhyder@yahoo.com   
  
  
RAGE  
Chapter Eleven  
  
Logan awoke to the scent of slightly burned meat.   
  
'Funny,' he thought, 'I don't remember falling asleep again...' He stood up and pulled on his jacket; having left it over top his sleeping bag when he fell asleep. It was a silly little tradition that he had picked up in Japan, but it helped keep heat in during the night.  
  
The boy, Ryouga, was already up and sitting by the camp fire, over which a small animal's carcass was roasting.   
  
'Stranger still,' the older man paused. 'Don't know that many animals of that size up here with that much mass..... 'cept......' He paled.  
  
"Ryouga-san, what are you eating?" Logan asked as the boy munched on a skewered piece of meat that must have been done before the rest. Green-brown eyes glanced up to him in slight surprise.   
  
"Ohayo, Logan-san." Ryouga shrugged. "I killed a wolverine for breakfast. Nasty little critter that he was, he's got plenty of meat on him."  
  
The Lost Boy failed to notice his companion look a little green.   
  
"A wolverine?" Logan's face screwed up in a grimace.   
  
"That's what it looks like," Ryouga replied, tossing the pelt, already strung out to dry, at   
him.   
  
'The boy's quick,' the X-man noted sourly. 'Fast, clean worker.....'  
  
"Ryouga-san, you do realize that wolverines are an endangered species, don't you?" The wild-haired man glowered at his younger student. Ryouga shrugged, and continued to chew on the meat.   
  
"Really?" He took a large bite, and then checked the roast. "Can't see why. They taste awful . . . Damn thing was pretty mean and unfriendly, too." Logan felt a drop of sweat roll down the back of his neck again.  
  
"Ryouga-san, you are one of the oddest people I've met, and trust me, I've met some people."  
  
Ryouga glared.  
  
----  
  
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shone brightly on a grassy meadow. A cool breeze ruffled a field of wild flowers sending fragrant petals floating into the breeze. Song birds chirped in lush evergreen trees. All of these factors would have awed any tree hugging nature lover.  
  
The two men standing in the meadow, however, had never been big tree huggers. Well, the younger of the two had hugged a few trees in his time but not in the same connotation.  
  
"Ok, sensei, what now?" Ryouga looked around at the sickening display of nature's beauty. He had seen enough "scenic routes" to last him twenty lifetimes.  
  
"Well, first, finding yer calm center-"  
  
"Ah, hell, not that again."  
  
"--is not what ya want to do."  
  
"Oh." Ryouga scratched his head. "Then what DO you do?"  
  
Logan sat on the ground and motioned for Ryouga to join him. The pupil reluctantly sat down on the dew covered grass.  
  
"Ya can't get rid o' yer anger. It's part o' ya. Trying to rid yourself of it would be like denying yourself. Bottling it up is even worse. It will eventually come out, not matter how hard ya try. One day ya could wake up in a pool o' blood and it not be yer own." He stopped and gazed at the sky in quiet contemplation. Ryouga stared at the sky also, dark visions flashing through his mind.  
  
"Ya can't control it fully, but ya cannot let it control ya, either. Ya can take it in stride and let yer anger work for you." Ryouga crinkled his eyebrows in confusion.  
  
"How do I do that?"  
  
"Anger can be a strong motivation when ya don't let yourself be blinded by it. Red, searing, hot rage can't be controlled. But cold fury can be." Logan coughed to clear his throat.  
  
"Not used to talking this much at once, huh, Logan-san?"  
  
"No." Silence hung in the air for several minutes.  
  
"So that's it? Can't get rid of it, can't bottle it up, take some cold fury and call me in the morning?" Ryouga grimaced.  
  
"Shut up kid. I'm thinking all right? I never had to do this before."  
  
The two sat in silence again for several moments. Ryouga idly pulled pieces of grass out of the ground.  
  
"Hey, sensei, you got any gum?" Logan's eyebrow twitched.  
  
"No, Ryouga I don't."  
  
"Damn."  
  
Suddenly Logan looked up from his musings.  
  
"Do ya know that moment right before ya fall into a blind rage, where yer conscious o' what yer doing, but ya can't seem to stop?"  
  
Ryouga nodded. He knew it all too well. Even before he fell into the spring, he had done it.  
  
"Right at that moment, imagine yourself standing over the dead bodies o' yer friends with their blood dripping from yer hands." Logan glanced over at him. "Feel angry anymore?"  
  
His pupil looked back at his haunted eyes and shook his head.  
  
"Good. And that's the end o' the lesson."  
  
Ryouga shook himself out of his reverie. "That's all?!"  
  
Logan shrugged.  
  
"If ya were looking for the wise man on the mountain yer not gonna to find him here, kid."   
  
Ryouga wrinkled up his nose.  
  
"I have a name you know."   
  
"Of course ya do . . . kid." Logan smirked.  
  
Ryouga glared at him and stood up, brushing stray grass off his lap. "Is that all your years of wisdom has taught you, old man?" Logan stood up also.  
  
"What happened to sensei?" Logan glanced at his younger companion out of the corner of his eye.  
  
"This was a waste of time! I should have never come here! All these weeks were wasted searching for you! After all I went through . . . what have I got?!" He narrowed his eyes at Logan, the corners of his green orbs turning crimson.  
  
"Blood on your hands."  
  
The lost boy blinked in shock as the redness drained from his eyes. 'What?' Realization hit him like a landslide.  
  
"You . . . you tricked me!" He shook his head as he realized he was getting angry again and plopped back down on the cool grass. Logan sat down cross-legged again.  
  
"And it was really easy to do to ya. Does that name still bother ya? Kid?" Ryouga looked down at the ground and let his bangs fall over his eyes.  
  
"No, it doesn't; go ahead and call me that."   
  
Logan nodded.  
  
"Good, because it's just a name." Logan looked back at his pupil and heard a small snort from Ryouga.  
  
"At least my name isn't Pantyhose."   
  
Logan raised an eyebrow. "What?"  
  
"Never mind."  
  
"Ya can't let yourself be goaded into things. Use yer brain for once." 'Heh ' Logan grimaced. '. . .I feel like a bit of a hypocrite now . .'  
  
"My mom used to say I got my brains from my father."  
  
Logan raised an eyebrow again. 'His father must have taken a few too many hits to the head . . ' "Why do names bother ya so much, Ryouga-san?" He turned his gaze to the sky again. Ryouga looked back at the ground ashamed.  
  
"When I was young . . .I used to be smaller than all the other boys, a runt. I was alone a lot of the time and I had to learn martial arts to be able to defend myself. They'd call me names like . . runt . . .and shrimp. One day I just couldn't take it anymore and I attacked them . . .I put them all in the hospital." He blushed in shame. "They were just stupid kids . . . "  
  
"Why arn't you angry about it anymore?"   
  
Ryouga raised his head and met his sensei's eyes. "Well I'm older now. I know better." Realization hit him over the head again. "Oh."  
  
"See, ya can't let yourself be manipulated like-"  
  
"Hey, you don't understand! There's this guy I know, and he always calls me names. He's cruel and mean and treats his fiancee badly! Cheats on her all the time too! He calls me stuff like pig-boy and pork-butt and--"  
  
Logan shook his head and broke into his younger companion's rant.  
  
"Why does he do that?"   
  
Ryouga seemed to calm down and rubbed the back of his neck.  
  
"Well, he likes to make me look bad in front of Akane and…"  
  
"Because he knows it will make ya mad?"   
  
Ryouga turned deathly pale and froze in shock for several seconds. Finally, he smashed his fist in his palm.  
  
"SO THAT'S WHY HE DOES IT! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!"  
  
Logan fell forward in the grass.  
  
--  
  
It was raining. Logan didn't feel like trekking through the rain, and Ryouga didn't dare, so they sat hunched over inside a tent, listening to the rain pour down on the water-proof nylon. Ryouga carved absently at a chunk of wood he picked up somewhere, and Logan's claws snikt-ed in and out. The bad weather grated on both of their nerves.  
  
"Funny." The older man scowled. "I don't seem to remember Canada getting this much rain... usually, it just snows....." Ryouga grunted.   
  
"Rain follows Junsenkyo cursed people like tornadoes in Kansas," the Lost Boy snorted.  
  
"Hn." The elder popped his claws out, examined the sharp edge, and found it to be lacking. The second set shot out, and for a long time, the only sounds were metal against metal, or metal against wood.  
  
"How do you do that?" The green-eyed boy asked after a while.   
  
"Do what?" Logan looked up from his sharpening.   
  
"That... claw thing..." Ryouga gestured with the knife in his hand at the talons from his teacher's hands. "The other day, you said I had them, and I saw somethin' weird..... but I can't seem to get them to come out...."  
  
Logan scowled.   
  
"Tense your arm," he commanded. Ryouga complied, his abnormally dense muscles bunching together.   
  
'He's right,' the boy realized. 'For someone of my strength, I really do look scrawny.....'  
  
"Now, just tense the muscles in yer forearm."  
  
"Eh?" Ryouga's eyes went wide.   
  
"Yer forearm. The muscles. Tense 'em."  
  
"Er..........." The younger man tried, but the closest he could get to the muscles that ran through his forearm were his biceps.  
  
"Look, imagine the claws coming out. Don't force 'em, they're a part o' yer body, just like yer hands." Logan sighed. He would never have believed in a hundred years that he would have had to explain how he retracted and extended his claws...  
  
Ryouga's emerald eyes closed halfway as he exhaled his stress. SNIKT! Three claws shot out of the top of his hand. He yelped in surprise, and the claws retracted again.  
  
Logan laughed.   
  
"Now, do the same thing again, only, just think o' one claw."  
  
"That hurt......." Ryouga pouted. "A lot."  
  
"Don't tell me ya can't handle a little pain, kid..." Logan snorted.   
  
"I'm serious! It takes an awful lot to make me hurt." Ryouga glared at him.  
  
"You'll get used to it." The older man shook his head. The Lost Boy scowled, and the middle claw shot out of his upraised fist.  
  
Logan was laughing for the next five minutes.  
  
----  
  
"Hey, Logan, is this it?" Ryouga spread his arms out and spun around, indicating the large area at the top of the hill.  
  
"Yeah, this is the place." Logan gazed over at the horizon, the rising sun shone in a brilliant splash of orange. "Nice place," Logan muttered to himself. Ryouga rolled his eyes.  
  
"Yeah wonderful place for a picnic," he answered sarcastically. Logan scowled. Ryouga walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. A churning river lay at its base. "Heh, that's a long way down."   
  
He looked over to his older companion who was staring in a daze at the sunrise.  
  
"So can you tell where we are now?"  
  
Logan continued to stare at the sunrise.  
  
"Hello?! Logan, are you paying attention to me?!" His mentor of sorts shook out of his reverie.  
  
"Yeah, I think I know where we are now."  
  
"Are you sure this place is safe? It looks like it would collapse, catch us in a landslide, and send us careening to a very painful fall into the sharp jagged rocks."  
  
Logan nearly face-faulted off the cliff. Thankfully, he didn't, because if he had, he would have missed Victor Creed's entrance.   
  
The larger man leapt onto the plateau, glaring darkly at Logan and at Ryouga, who seemed confused.   
  
"Creed." Logan growled.   
  
"Hey, Runt!" The tall blond glared at his shorter rival. "Think ya picked a damn hard enough place ta get to?!"  
  
"Obviously not." Logan shrugged. "After all, yer here."  
  
"Ano... Logan-san? Who's he?" Ryouga tapped his teacher on the shoulder. Creed took one look at the yellow-and-black attire and his mood worsened.   
  
"Hey, Runt, what's Runt Jr. doing here? When'd you get a new woman?" Sabertooth grinned darkly. "A new frail?"  
  
"That's Sabertooth, a.k.a. Victor Creed." Logan growled to Ryouga. "He's probably one o' the more dangerous psychos you'll meet.... he's got clawed hands, and a healing factor too. I don't think yer martial arts does fer much good against his kind."  
  
"I don't care..." Ryouga's eyes shifted from dark green to ruddy red. "HE CAN'T TALK THAT WAY ABOUT MY MOTHER!!!" The Lost Boy charged the much taller man before Logan could pull him back.   
  
"Ryouga! Don't!" The older man yelled, making a grab for the youth's collar, but the force of his lunge, combined with the fact that he missed, sent him face first in the dust.   
  
"Ha!" Sabertooth laughed. "He's just a kid!"  
  
"I'll show you!" Ryouga roared, "DIE!" His fist shot out, grazing Sabertooth's side, but it wasn't enough to do more than send the taller man spinning. Unfortunately, Sabertooth used the momentum to his advantage.  
  
Logan looked up in time to see his arch nemesis spin around and violently kick his student to the very edge of the ledge. Only the young man's honed skills saved him, as he rolled with the blow and flipped up onto his hands.  
  
"Ryouga?!" His keen sight caught the younger boy balancing precariously by his fingertips, upside down no less.   
  
Then the ledge crumbled out from under the Lost Boy.  
  
Ryouga's eyes were wide in shock, and all traces of Rage vanished as he plunged headfirst into the silent chasm. Neither Logan or Victor moved.   
  
"RYOUGA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
----  
  
~No Tears  
  
No tears I shed over the graves of the dead  
crosses bared to the frigid night   
the spirits whisper to me, can't you see?  
death repays the endless fight  
  
No tears . . .  
  
No tears for the wicked & the pure  
honey suckle bone, ashes to atone  
blood is on mine hands  
surrender to the cure  
  
No Tears . . .  
  
My banner's on my deathbed  
I defy you to the last  
damn you for making me care . . .  
  
No tears for you  
this is all your fault you know  
reap what you sow, on your funeral day  
the corpses arn't talking  
not to me anyway  
  
No Tears . . .   
  
Revenge will be mine, till my dying day  
your words are crumbling in decay  
I'm weary of the sin  
But I won't let you win  
  
I don't care where you've been  
screaming in my cell, I'll chase you to hell  
No tears for you . . . . never again ~  
  
--Ashes  
Chapter Twelve  
  
Logan and Victor glared at each other, each brandishing their claws.  
  
"Yer a bastard, ya know that, Creed?" Logan growled. "That kid was my friend."  
  
"I think yer emphasis should go on the was, runt." Sabertooth laughed.   
  
"Yer gonna regret coming up here," Wolverine warned him.  
  
Creed just laughed at him again.  
  
"I'd like to see you make me," he grinned. Their verbal argument was cut short by a huge splash.  
  
FWOOOOOOM! Something shot out of the river half a mile below them like a bat out of hell.   
  
"Bub, yer just gonna wish you had some hot water." Now Logan grinned wildly, stepping away from the edge.  
  
"Running away?" Creed sneered.   
  
"From you?" Logan shook his head. "Never."   
  
A dark shadow fell over Sabertooth. The taller mutant looked up to see what had blocked out the light, and saw the descending, red-eyed youth that was about to shred him like paper with claws that could not have possibly existed.  
  
"What the hell?" The blond snarled, rolling to one side as the boy landed heavily, creating a foot-deep, six-feet wide crater in the process.  
  
"Shit!"   
  
The rage-possessed youth nimbly spun to face his opponent, his lean crimson eyes glowing from under the shadows his thick black hair created.  
  
"What the hell is that?!" Creed recognized the expression the lost boy wore as one of death.   
  
"That?" Logan tilted his head towards Ryouga, who's shoulders were heaving from the jumps to the cliff top. "That's my student."  
  
Without awaiting a further word, the dark haired boy lashed forward, his claws moving almost too fast for Sabertooth to follow. Metallic talons shredded flesh and rendered it from bones faster than it could regenerate. Sabertooth attacked back, but received nasty lesions across his arms for attempting. Finally, the larger man ducked, and tackled his opponent from below with a claw-driven uppercut. Ryouga flew backwards, but he recovered quickly. While still in mid-air, the young man flipped so as to land on his feet.   
  
Creed, by that time, had recovered enough to take the offensive. He slashed out at Ryouga's unguarded stomach before the Lost Boy even landed, and was rewarded with the tearing of flesh. Ryouga jolted in pain, and barred his fangs, only to have Sabertooth impale his stomach with his other hand. Scarlet eyes narrowed, and the dark haired fighter plunged both his claws into Sabertooth's arms. The taller combatant jerked back, growling angrily.   
  
Ryouga's wounds didn't slow him down in the least, though, as if he couldn't feel the pain from the regenerating flesh. Sabertooth wondered idly what could drive a man to such rage, having seen something similar in Logan's eyes. Could it really have been that one crack comment about the boy's mother?  
  
"Shine," the word was more of a twisted growl as it was spat from Ryouga's lips. "Die." Before Sabertooth could react, cold metal claws covered in his hot blood were plunged into his chest and twisted.   
  
"RYOUGA! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Logan roared, charging over to the quickly ending battle. "STOP!" The Lost Boy, having lost interest in his still target, turned at the sound of new, fresh prey. He lunged at the running man, only to have a wave of hot water meet him in the face. He fell to the dust as the bloody rage receded.   
  
"Lo... Logan-san?" The Japanese youth glanced wearily at his teacher of sorts, his hazel eyes unfocused.   
  
"It's okay, Ryouga. The battle's over. You've won. I'll take care of Sabertooth." Logan spoke calmly to the young combatant who had just taken down one of the X-men's most aggravating villains.  
  
He glanced over to the cliff's edge... but Sabertooth was gone.   
  
'Bastard. Must've rolled off the edge to escape,' he thought.  
  
"Sensei?" Ryouga whispered from his place in the dust, where he hadn't moved. "Is everything all right?"  
  
"Peachy keen, kid." Logan lied. "How are ya feelin'?"   
  
"I'm fine, Logan-san." The lost boy pushed his slender form from the ground. "No walking carpet is going to get the best of...." He collapsed of exhaustion.  
  
Logan chuckled.   
  
"Sure, kid. Whatever ya say."  
  
---  
  
Ryouga and Logan hiked through the crisp Canadian wilderness, the chilled air nipping at any exposed skin. Neither one seemed to mind, though, both were used to extreme weather. The younger man stopped to look up at the sky.   
  
"The sky looks pretty clear today," he noted. "Finally, a day without rain."   
  
Logan continued to walk silently.   
  
"It still rains more in Nerima, though." The Lost Boy scowled, and hurried to keep up with his traveling companion. "I wonder what Akane and Akar-- er... never mind." The bandanna wearing youth stumbled suddenly in the middle of his sentence, to which his older mentor merely raised an eyebrow.   
  
"You know, it's hard to carry on a conversation when you're the only one talking." Ryouga glared.  
  
"Oh, heh, sorry kid." Logan shrugged. "I was thinking."  
  
"Oh, so that's where the steam came from." Ryouga smirked.  
  
"Heh. Funny, kid." The elder glowered.   
  
They walked in silence for a few more feet, then Ryouga spoke again. "So what are you thinking about?"  
  
"Nothin' that ya would be concerned about." Logan snorted.   
  
"No, really, tell me."   
  
"Just the past...." The Canadian mutant shrugged. "The ancient past."  
  
"Ancient?" Ryouga blinked. "What do you mean?"  
  
Logan paused mid stride. Ryouga did the same.   
  
"I'm older than I look, kid." The wild-haired man sighed.   
  
"So... what, forty?" The youth guessed. "That's not that old. Trust me, I know some old people."  
  
"I was wondering when I should tell you this." Logan leaned up against a tree and took out a cigarette. "I suppose this is as good a time as ever. The healing factor... it makes you age slower than everyone else."  
  
"What..." Ryouga swallowed nervously. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I don't know how old I am." Logan lit up. " But, I've been fighting since at least World War Two."   
  
Ryouga fell onto his rear out of shock.  
  
"I don't know if it'll work the same way it did with me...." Logan paused to take a long drag on his nicotine filled tube. "You may have a very long life ahead of you."  
  
Ryouga's brown-green eyes shone with a deep-seeded fear.   
  
"I think I want that sake now." He muttered, and dug a well protected glass bottle out of his pack.  
  
"I thought that was the coward's way out?" Logan arched one of his eyebrows. Ryouga responded with a harsh glare.   
  
"Am I..." The Lost Boy paused to swallow his terror, and while he was at it, a healthy dose of sake. "Am I going to have to live on while the rest of my friends and family grow old around me?" He knew his eyes were tearing up, but his iron resolve forced the pain down.   
  
"It's a possibility." Logan nodded solemnly.   
  
"Maybe... Akari can find someone who can take care of her now..." The younger whispered hoarsely, blinking in an attempt to keep the tears from falling.   
  
"... Who's Akari, Ryouga-san?" The elder stomped out the cigarette butt, steel-colored eyes reflecting the very same emotions Ryouga radiated.   
  
"N-n-never mind." Ryouga shook his head violently, and then took a long swig. "It's not important. "Not anymore." He sighed, and whispered even more softly than before: "I must be destined to be alone."  
  
The older man placed his hand on Ryouga's shoulder.   
  
"I wouldn't go down that road, Ryouga. Loved one's drift away and die, but we can't go through life not giving a damn about anything. Hell, you'll turn into Creed."  
  
Ryouga emitted a sound akin to a soft laugh into his bottle.   
  
"Never happen." He snorted. "Even if I went crazy, I'd still take baths regularly."  
  
Logan chuckled.   
  
"What the hell is his problem, anyway?" Ryouga looked up.   
  
"More like what isn't his problem..." The X-man grumbled.   
  
Inspiration dawned on Ryouga.   
  
"Hey, old man, do you have any kids?" He asked bluntly. Logan almost had a heart attack from the sudden change in direction of the conversation.   
  
"None that I know of," he glanced out of the corner of his eye. "Why?"  
  
Ryouga coughed nervously and took another drink. "You just seem good at this sort of thing. Ahem."  
  
"What was that, Ryouga-san?"  
  
"Well, if you're really that old, are you telling me you've never gotten married? Started a family? Had a girlfriend?"  
  
"What do I look like, a monk?" Logan grumbled. "I've had many relationships...... they just didn't work out."   
  
"Gomen nasai, sensei. That was rude and inconsiderate of me." Ryouga apologized formally, bowing his head. The Lost Boy paused. Curiosity still nagged at him, but he wasn't quite sure how to word his questions so he wouldn't seem like he was butting into the other man's life.   
  
Logan knew what he meant, though.   
  
"Yes, most of those relationships did end in tragedy." The older man sighed. "But I would do it all over again if given the chance."  
  
Ryouga looked worried as he voiced his next inquiry, and drank before speaking.   
  
"All of them ended in death?"   
  
"No..." Logan sighed, and took out another cigarette. "There were two others. One I lost to another man, although I never really had her to begin with. Another... well, she may as well be dead. I'm not really sure. It was a long time ago.... if she isn't dead, then she probably moved on."  
  
Ryouga seemed to brighten at the small ray of hope.   
  
"Maybe you'll find her someday?" He offered, and gulped the sake again. "You never know. Every time I'm looking for something, it always ends up being right under my nose."  
  
"Heh." Logan smirked. "Is that optimism I'm hearing, kid?"  
  
Ryouga sweat-dropped. ".... must be the sake."  
  
The elder coughed, embarrassed.   
  
"That's another thing I forgot to tell you." He leaned back on his heels. "With the healing factor, it's almost impossible to get drunk."  
  
Ryouga glanced at the small bottle of sake in his hands.   
  
"DAMN IT!!!!"  
  
---  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
  
It was a beautiful day.  
  
Ryouga breathed in the scent of freshly cut grass and sighed happily. He stood in a large playground filled with happily children. It reminded him of the one he had played in as a kid. A large swing set sat in the middle surrounded by a jungle gym and a slide. The small faces of the children lit up with innocent glee as they rose higher and higher.  
  
Suddenly a little girl jumped off the swings and ran toward him. He looked down in surprise as the girl held up a small yellow flower toward him. The pink stripe in her hair reminded him of something . . . no it was better not to thank about that right now.  
  
The little girl giggled and ran back to another girl with a long purple bow in her hair. The wind blew gently, stirring cherry blossoms in the trees and sending them into a chaotic dance in the air. He reached out and plucked one from the hair. He gazed at it in his rough and callused hand. It seemed so fragile . . .  
  
His head turned as a high pitched giggle reached his ears. It was a little girl with long purple hair playing tag with a young boy with glasses. She'd laugh and tag him on the back, then the boy would look around bewildered. Finally he'd see her and run toward her, only to slip and fall in the mud. Laughing, the little girl would tag him again and the process was repeated. It was strangely familiar. . .  
  
"Hey look out!" He turned in time to see a little boy in a Chinese shirt hurl a water balloon to his face.   
  
Then everything changed.  
  
Blood . . . cries . . . you can't go back . . .tears of the screaming . . . innocence . . .you cant go back, you can't EVER go back. Nothing is left but the cold. You don't belong there. You don't belong anywhere. Tears of innocence bade you here and you shall never return. You don't deserve happiness. You don't deserve to be loved.  
  
You're an animal . . . an animal in cage. Give in......to the rage.  
  
The scene solidified once more. The children were gone, their cries mere whispering wraiths. The vibrant world of color was now gray, except for the blood. It congealed and dripped off the swing sets. Pools of it collected at the bottom of the slide and long finger prints smeared down the metal sides, as if someone had been dragged from it.  
  
He looked down at his hands. They were covered with blood.  
  
"You don't belong here." He looked up and found the children from before glaring at him through cold, lifeless orbs. Their skin was pale and many had lesions and open wounds.  
  
"You can never go back," the girl with the purple stripes whispered sadly. The girl with the ribbon opened her cracked lips.  
  
"You don't belong here."  
  
"You don't deserve happiness," the group repeated in chorus together. Ryouga fell to his knees in pain clutching his head as the voices rose in intensity.  
  
"YOU'RE AN ANIMAL!"  
  
"YOU DON'T BELONG ANYWHERE!"  
  
"YOU DON'T DESERVE HAPPINESS!"  
  
He crawled up into a fetal position and let a long cry of anguish and torment escape his lips.  
  
---  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ryouga woke up screaming, clutching his forehead in pain. Logan ran to his side and grasped his shoulders firmly.  
  
"Ryouga, what's wrong?" The younger boy looked up and seemed to see Logan for the first time. He looked around, half expecting to see the wraiths of the dead children hovering over him. He shuddered violently and tried to get himself under control.  
  
"Logan, it was horrible. . . I--" his voice wavered and fell silent, afraid that he would break down completely if he kept going. He bowed his head and let his bangs fall over his eyes. He wasn't going to cry in front of Logan.   
  
He COULDN'T cry in front of Logan. Logan was a warrior, a strong spirited adult... something Ryouga only wished he could be. And Logan hadn't cried once in all the traveling they had done together, even though there had certainly been times that he could have.  
  
Crying wasn't an option. Crying was a sign of weakness. He wasn't going to be weak.  
  
"Kid?" Logan nudged him. "Ya okay?"  
  
"Yeah." Ryouga whispered and rolled over in his bedroll. "I'll be fine."  
  
"Nightmares tell a lot about ya, Ryouga-san. They expose yer inner most fears to the light. Ya wouldn't be able to overcome yer fears if ya did not know about them." Logan met his student's eyes as the latter sat up. He saw the fear reflected in his eyes that he wouldn't allow himself to show anywhere else. The boy was getting better at controlling his emotions.  
  
Ryouga gazed down at the dew covered grass.  
  
"What if it's something you can't fight?"  
  
"All ya can do is try yer best. Nothing more, or nothing less can be expected of ya."   
  
"Logan-san?" Ryouga's deep green eyes swam with sorrow as he looked up to his teacher. "Don't... Don't you ever get nightmares? I mean, you've lived a long time..."  
  
Logan snorted and closed his eyes.   
  
"Yeah, kid." He sighed at last. "All the time."  
  
"What do you see, Logan-san?" Ryouga tilted his head to the side.  
  
"People I failed... People I should've saved... People I could've saved..." The older man's voice became increasingly quiet as he spoke. "People I loved..."  
  
"I know about failing your loved ones..." Ryouga shuddered. "The people back home... they mean so much to me... all of them... I couldn't bear the fact that I had let them down by becoming... well..." The soft blue aura that shone from him caught Logan's attention, but the X-man kept his mouth shut for the time being.  
  
"It's not that they're my friends," the Lost Boy continued, trying to dismiss Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo from his guilty mind. "But I mean, they've been there for me... they tried to help me... And then I go and lose control over my feelings and my body like this..." Tears built up in the corners of his deep green eyes, even as his aura started to provide more light than the moon overhead.  
  
"Um.... kid..." Logan blinked. "You do realize you're glowing, don't you?" The elder moved to poke the boy, but drew back sharply. The moment he touched the cerulean aura, a shock-wave of depression and despair had hit him hard.   
  
"Oh... I am, aren't I?" Ryouga blinked. "Blast... Excuse me, Logan-san." The youth meandered out of the tent and to the center of the clearing. He tilted his head back, the azure energy licking eagerly at his skin and hair, and he screamed.   
  
"SHISHI HOKOUDAN! " A blue pillar of light shot directly into the sky above him, towering higher than any trees and several of the mountains. Two or three dazed geese fell down around him, and even higher above, the newly repaired satellite STRTRK was hit by a wave of dissipating energy.   
  
On a side note, it took five years to get the satellite working properly again, instead of displaying an error message: The world is a dark and lonely place.  
  
"What the hell was that?!" Logan scrambled out of the slightly scorched tent just in time to see the blue pillar start to descend back to earth. "Oh shit." His steel-blue eyes widened, and he braced himself for the impact. Ryouga stood stock still in the same position as when he had fired the blast, having barely even breathed since then.  
  
There was a tremendous, earth-shaking crash when the massive ki attack hit the ground again. The clearing was increased a good ten feet more in diameter. The tent was blown into ashes, as were much of Logan's equipment, having not been designed to withstand such a blast. Ryouga stood unscathed by his release of energy, but Logan was not so lucky. The older man lay sprawled out on his back, eyes open wide in shock, breathing heavily as his healing factor kicked into overdrive. His flannel shirt and jeans looked like he had gotten into a scrap with Omega Red, with energy burns and lesions galore. Luckily, he was wearing his X-men uniform underneath his civilian cloths or he would have been feeling a little more than a draft in some places.  
  
"Ryouga-kun." Logan wheezed, slowly sitting up. The Lost Boy snapped from his statuesque stance, and spun around to face his mentor.   
  
"Logan-san!" He yelped. "Daijoubu ka? Gomen nasai de gozaru yo!"  
  
"What?" Still dazed, Logan couldn't remember the translation for what the boy had said. "In English, kid?"  
  
"Oops." Ryouga flushed. "Logan-san! Are you all right? I'm so sorry, honest, I'm really, really sorry!"  
  
"It's okay, kid, I'll heal." The elder shook his head, attempting to clear some of the haze away. "However..."  
  
"Eh?" The bandanna wearing martial artist waited while his teacher pushed himself off the ground.   
  
"Do you always make craters when you get depressed?" The X-man gestured to the greatly indented ground around them. Trees that had been too close to the secondary energy blast were half eaten away by the fire of despair-induced power, and no other sign of life besides the two travelers existed inside the area. A bead of sweat rolled down the younger man's face.   
  
"Oops?" Ryouga winced.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes." Logan scowled. The youth hung his head in embarrassment.   
  
"I'm sorry, Logan-san." He whispered. "I didn't expect the blast to be so big this time."   
  
"What was that, anyway?" The mutant stretched his healing muscles. "Some kind of bomb? Mutant power?"  
  
"Ki blast." Ryouga answered quietly. "Shishi Hokoudan, Roaring Lion Bullet. A release of negative energy; can be done in two ways. Horizontal, a single blast, or vertical, hitting a target both on the way up, and with greater force on the way down. The latter is called a full Shishi Hokoudan, and does the greatest amount of damage."  
  
"A Ki attack?" The X-man paled. He had heard of such things when he was in Japan years ago, but had yet to see any human perform such a maneuver. Several demons, yes, but no human.   
  
Ryouga nodded numbly.   
  
"Whenever I get really depressed, I've got to let the energy out, or it will poison my ki energy." He stared at the decimated ground, where only minutes earlier, there had been fine moss and grasses growing.   
  
"The more depressed I am, the larger the blast."  
  
A feeling of dread hit Logan in the stomach.   
  
"You're not the only one who can do Ki attacks, are you." The older man wasn't questioning now, he stated the fact that he knew in his heart to be true.   
  
"No." The umbrella-wielding martial artist shook his head. "My rival, Saotome Ranma, has a similar attack, but his is based on confidence. He also has mastered a technique called Hiryuu Shoten Ha, the Rising Dragon. Damn thing hurts like hell to get caught in..."  
  
"Yeah." Logan held up his right fist, and all three claws shot out to their full length. "Maybe what ya need is a new technique… something to take your mind off o' this for a while."  
  
"A new technique?"   
  
"Yep. This is a little baby I came up with in a sparring match against Cyclops."  
  
"Cyclops?" The bandanna wearing boy blinked. "Isn't that the guy with the blue uniform? Stick up his ass?"  
  
Logan burst out laughing. He hadn't heard anyone describe the leader of the X-men in such a way, ever. It was refreshing, and a definite change from the dark atmosphere they had recently been pinned down by.  
  
"Yeah, that's him." The older man smiled wryly. "This baby is called the Drill Claw."  
  
"Drill Claw..." Ryouga paused, working his accent out of the English words. "Drill Claw." When he said it the second time, his accent was completely gone.   
  
*The kid's a fast learner...* Logan noted glumly. *He might want to learn Tornado Claw, at this rate.*  
  
"Watch me." The X-man chose his target; a large boulder five feet away, part of the debris that hadn't been completely destroyed by the Shishi Hokoudan. He shifted his weight to his left foot, balancing on the balls of both feet. He pushed off with the right, adding a spin to his lunge. His claws bore a perfect circle into the rock before he lost momentum and had to drop back.  
  
Ryouga felt a drop of sweat run down his face.   
  
"That's it?" He blinked, studying the three foot hole in the rock.   
  
"Hey, it works wonders against people of flesh and blood." Logan snorted. "It's not really as easy as it looks..." The older man trailed off as his pupil chose an even larger rock, duplicated the stance, and then used small bursts of ki to help propel him as he spun through the target.  
  
"Is that how it's supposed to be, sensei?" The Lost Boy asked from the other side of the rock with a perfect hole drilled through it.  
  
"Yeah. Something like that." The elder felt a terrible sinking feeling in his stomach. Somehow, he knew, his pupil was going to surpass him. And quickly. The thought of something that dangerous roaming the earth...   
  
"Sensei?" Ryouga waved his hand in front of Logan's dazed face.   
  
"Wha--?"   
  
"No offense, sensei, but if I wanted to break rocks, I could just do this..." One finger darted out and tapped the rock that Logan had drilled. "BAKSAI TENKETSU!" And then it was gravel.  
  
"Great...." For a moment, Logan debated on teaching him Tornado Claw, but then realized it would be counter productive, since that technique required Rage to be building up. Maybe later, once the boy had gotten a better grip on his highly dangerous emotions…  
  
"Like I said, kid." The X-man sighed. "It works on flesh and blood people, too. Not just yer rocks."  
  
Ryouga blinked, then froze. "How'd you know it just worked on rocks?" He breathed.   
  
"I know people." The older man smiled cryptically. "I've got connections."  
  
Ryouga stretched, then did a double take at the still dark sky.   
  
"It's still night," he gaped.   
  
"Yeah." Logan snorted. "I'd recommend going back to sleep, kid, but there's one small problem."  
  
The elder gestured to the tents... or rather, what was left of them. Ryouga's pack stood unhurt, but his tent was long gone. Logan's equipment was somewhere... as ashes.  
  
Ryouga sweat-dropped.   
  
"Oops?"   
  
---  
  
Disney World. The happiest place on earth.  
  
Perfect place for a guy named Happy.  
  
Cinderella sat on a bench, idly fanning herself. The heat was horrid in the park and her shift was only half over. If another little brat tried to hug her on her lunch break, she was going to get medieval. Err… more medieval than she already was.  
glanced up as she felt the ground shake slightly.  
  
"Great." She grumbled and pushed her crown back on top of her head. "Another earthquake."  
  
Suddenly a black shadow descended across her path. It blocked out the sun, leaving the area she was sitting in shrouded in shadow. She blinked several times as her eyes adjusted, then did a double take.  
  
One of the seven dwarfs was being chased by a giant bull with wings.  
  
"Damn it! Why didn't someone tell me they were changing the times of the parades?!"  
  
The dwarf, she thought it was Happy, slid to a stop in front of her. She later would swear that its head swiveled 360 degrees around and screamed.  
  
"Sweetums!"  
  
She shivered in fear as she stared at the path behind the monstrosity. Goofies, and Minnies, and Mickeys lay strewn about the ground like some kind of cartoon massacre. It was horrible....so very horrible. Or funny, if you happened to work for Warner Brothers.  
  
The dwarf clamped itself onto her chest.   
  
"ROOOOOOAAAARRR!" The giant winged ox thing roared eloquently and stomped through the tea cup ride, crushing the cute little cups. Cinderella threw the pervert off her chest and readied to stomp on it with a glass slipper. Well, it would have been glass, had the bastards not given her some damn cheap plastic ones.  
  
The pervert was already gone when her plastic slipper came down. Suddenly, she was swept up in a mass of pissed off princesses. How could Ariel run in that thing anyway? ....Never mind, think later, kill pervert now.   
  
Cinderella grabbed an official Disney World golf club and joined the mob.  
  
Far above, Taro clutched onto the top of a castle, casually beating down helicopters with his fists.  
  
Happy smiled. Truly, it was the happiest place on earth.  
  
---  
  
Chapter Fourteen  
  
It had been a hard day at the Nekohaten. Customers seemed to file in by the dozens. It was invigorating. Cologne felt herself actually feeling a bit fatigued.  
  
"Great Grandmother, time to close up, yes?" Shampoo looked up expectantly at her grandmother. Cologne winced. She hoped Shampoo's grasp on the Japanese language would improve eventually.  
  
"Yes, it's a bit overdo. Go tell Mousse to clean off the tables."  
  
Shampoo smiled and turned to go to the back room.   
  
She knew she could always count on Mousse. Whenever she felt down, or depressed, he was always there to take her frustration out on.   
  
Beating him up was definitely was one of the finer things in life, like caviar, wine, hitting Mousse with a bucket, locking him in a cage, etc. etc. Ah, sometimes you just had to sit back and appreciate the little things that make life wonderful.  
  
Shampoo wistfully regretted that the Amazons had done away with man servants. Mousse wouldn't be so bad if all he did was hang around and cut the grass with his shirt off.  
  
"MOUSSE! GO CLEAN TABLES NOW!" Shampoo smirked as her stalker....err admirer jumped to his feet.  
  
"Yes Shampoo my darling!" He ran into the other room. She watched him and pondered briefly asking him to jump off a bridge for her. She wasn't entirely sure he'd decline . . .He'd probably stab himself with jagged pieces of metal if she asked him to.  
  
She smiled even broader as she went back into the main serving area.  
  
"Oh great-grandmother, Shampoo forget tell you there message on answering machine."  
  
Cologne looked up and blinked. They had an answering machine?   
  
The Amazon Matriarch shrugged and walked over to a short oblong box sitting on a table. A small red light flashed. She pushed the play button.  
  
"Hello? This is Plum. Wow, who would have thought you guys would get an answering machine. I don't think you should have let Mousse make the message though. Unless Shampoo really is getting married to him next week-"  
  
Sounds of a man in pain could be heard from the other room.  
  
"--But anyway, I have urgent news for honored matriarch Cologne. It concerns that....spring you wanted me to look into. I'm afraid to say anything over the phone. Please come see me with the utmost urgency. It's a matter of life and death." The message ended.  
  
Silence hung in the air for several seconds. Finally she hopped back to where her great granddaughter was beating Mousse senseless.  
  
"Shampoo there is an urgent matter I must take care of in China. I leave the restaurant in your hands while I am gone." Without another word, she turned and hopped up the steps to pack.  
  
Shampoo smiled. Cologne was leaving for China and she was leaving the Nekohaten in her care. That meant only one thing . . .  
  
"Kegger party to get Arien drunk! Hiya!"  
  
----  
  
"I really don't think it's a good idea to go into town Logan-san." Ryouga sighed and hefted his pack up higher on his shoulders. His own equipment had miraculously survived, unlike Logan's. It always seemed to appear whenever he needed it. He never was exactly sure how . . . some things were just best left unanswered.   
  
"We wouldn't have had to if you hadn't thrown your little chi hissy fit." Logan smirked as his companions face started into the tale tell signs of anger.  
  
"Hissy fit?!"   
  
Logan walked ahead a bit and then looked over his shoulder.  
  
"Getting angry kid?"  
  
Ryouga looked away with a pouting expression on his face.  
  
"....am not."  
  
"Good 'cause yer coming with me. I'm not gonna let ya wander off and get lost."  
  
"There has to be some other way!" He looked pleadingly at his older companion. Logan shrugged.  
  
"What else can we do kid?" Logan grinned, exposing a fang. Behind him, Ryouga raised an eyebrow. He hadn't noticed the fangs before . . . He had always thought it was a rare genetic thing in his family. Oh well, maybe more people had them then he thought. Logan chuckled, knocking him out of his reverie.  
  
"Well, we could always attack a little bell with a collar around yer neck."  
  
Ryouga turned pale.  
  
"That's not funny, Logan." He shuddered.  
  
"What? Been collared before?" The elder man snorted.   
  
"Actually, yes. It's not a very pleasant experience, let me tell you. If you breathe wrong, or try to swallow, you get choked." Dark emerald eyes narrowed.  
  
Logan gave Ryouga an odd glare. Ryouga glared back.   
  
"Not like that, Logan-san." The Lost Boy growled. "Get your mind out of the gutter."  
  
"My mind wasn't in the gutter, kid." Logan snorted. "I was wondering where anyone would get a collar big enough to go around your thick neck."   
  
"Oi, Logan-san..." Ryouga's scowl deepened.   
  
"Look, kid, I really need to get new supplies." Logan sighed. "I'm not taking the risk o' going into town myself and leaving ya to get lost out here. What happens if ya get splashed, or go berserk, without someone to talk ya back to a normal temper?" The bandanna wearing martial artist muttered something under his breath, which Logan, of course, heard.  
  
"Hey, Ryouga, I've got more news for ya." He whispered back. Ryouga stiffened. "It looks like ya might have the same heightened senses I got. I'll tell ya now, there ain't no use whispering around me, kid."  
  
The Lost Boy whimpered, but followed his teacher silently.  
  
A few hours later, Ryouga and Logan stood at the edge of a small town. Ryouga was extremely nervous; he kept twitching and fiddling with the straps on his pack. Logan shot him a glare, but it didn't stop the young man from his anxious motions.  
  
"Kid. Calm down." The wild-haired man snorted.   
  
"Demo, Logan-san..." The youth winced.   
  
"Calm. Down." The elder's stormy eyes narrowed. "That's an order. Yer going to have a panic attack. It's all right. There's nothing to worry about. We're only going to be here a few hours, tops."  
  
Ryouga glanced around the small town. It could barley be called a town, there were only two stores, a run down cafe, and a old fashioned general store. His heart fell as two young boys playing soccer skirted in front of his path. At least they didn't have water balloons.  
  
Logan strode forward with Ryouga close behind and stepped onto the threshold of the general store. With a creak, he opened the old screen door and stepped inside. The general store seemed empty. No one stood behind the counter. Oddly, a radio blared on the counter as if someone had left in a hurry and had forgotten to turn it off.  
  
The two were instantly on the alert. Logan went to the back of the store to look around while Ryouga walked to the front. The shop keeper probably had stepped out for a moment. People in rural areas tended to be more lax than others. On the counter, the radio switched songs.  
  
~ I've got to . . .get away. ~  
  
Ryouga wrinkled his nose. He smelled something . . .he just couldn't identify it.  
  
~ I've got to . . . run away ~  
  
He walked behind the counter and abruptly stopped. He knew what the smell was now.  
  
~ From the pain you drive into the heart of me ~  
  
A human heart lay nailed to the wall, the fresh blood dripped down the sides of the wood. In blood next to it was written: "SABERTOOTH WUZ HERE."  
  
"Shi--" Ryouga leaned back as a knife whizzed by his ear. He spun around and became face to face with the walking carpet with eyes, Creed.  
  
He sneered at Ryouga showing a mouthful of fangs. His eyes reflected decades of hate that had recently found a new object to obsess upon.   
  
"Hey, Runt Jr. Where's the old man? Did he find a new woman and abandon ya? I heard that can fuck up a kid real bad."   
  
Ryouga stiffened, and his eyes narrowed.   
  
"For your information, Creed-san, Logan-san is right outside." The Lost Boy faintly growled, barring his own fangs. "And unless you want to fight the both of us, you better start running for your life."  
  
"What, not going to try to take me down all by yourself?" Sabertooth sneered, but noted that the young man's eyes had changed from emerald-green to a bronze hue.  
  
"I'm a martial artist." Ryouga growled. "I don't pick unnecessary fights."   
  
"Oh, a martial artist, eh?" Victor leered. "Ya do any o' them fancy Taiwan moves, Runt Jr.?"   
  
"I'm from Nerima, not Taiwan." The bronze color in the boy's eyes gathered more red, taking on a shade close to brick.   
  
Outside, the two soccer playing boys ran past the door, oblivious to the friction between the two. Ryouga heard their laughter, and froze.   
  
'Children?' His anger-fogged mind registered the sounds, even as the haze cleared away. 'I almost fought him... in front of children...'  
  
Flashes of his nightmares ran through his mind's eyes, filling his heart with dread.   
  
'I almost went berserk...' He realized. 'Someone could have been hurt... or even worse... killed!'  
  
Subconsciously, Ryouga's claws edged out of his hands. A few drops of blood accompanied them, running down the Lost Boy's fists and dripping onto the floor below. Sabertooth was watching with interest as his opponent's eyes changed colors rapidly.  
  
Never once did the color in the boy's eyes reach a definite shade of red, nor did they stay green, rather, they melted into all the hues between.   
  
"Hey, Runt Jr, did ya know yer eyes change color?"   
  
"Eh?!" Ryouga scowled, his attention once more back on the deadly killer before him. "Anyway, I don't have time to play games with you today, Creed-san. And I doubt Logan-san will be pleased to find you here."  
  
"Who, Runt?" Sabertooth snorted. "He's probably tracking my trail halfway through the woods by now. I set up a real wild goose chase for him, this time. No one here but you an' me, Runt. Jr."   
  
"I really wish you'd stop calling me that." Ryouga's eyes were now a lovely shade of burgundy, and his claws shot completely out from the top of his hands.   
  
"Awww, but it's such an adorable nick name, don't ya think?" Creed grinned wildly, flexing his own talons. "It's perfect for one o' Runt's offspring."   
  
"You bastard..." Ryouga snarled. "I'm going to shut you up..."   
  
"I'd like to see you try, Junior." The blond laughed.   
  
"PREPARE TO DI--" Ryouga shouted, beginning to lunge.  
  
"CREED!" Logan roared, busting in through the back door. Sabertooth turned to see the intruder, causing Ryouga to stumble past him and fall to the floor. The Lost Boy flipped to his feet and towards his mentor, kicking the blond in a smart kick as he did so.   
  
The youth stood up by the dark haired mutant, and shook his head to clear his mind of the dark and bloody thoughts that had filled it mere moments ago. His eyes returned to their normal emerald hue, much to everyone's relief.   
  
Creed scowled. Runt Jr. he was sure he could have fought, especially since the boy was no longer in a berserker's rage. On an average day, he might have been able to take Runt, or at least dish out considerable damage. However, both of them, at the same time, were definitely not favorable odds. A mutant berserker and a martial artist from Nerima...   
  
'Wait...' the blond took a step away from the other two. 'Nerima, eh? I can screw around with his family and friends a good deal before fighting him... Just gotta track 'em down. Heh... A little pay back for the woods...'  
  
"Well, it looks like ya got yer ol' man to back ya up, Runt Jr." Creed snorted. "I'll be seeing ya around, then." With a deadly grin, the burly mutant smashed his way out of the store and into the woods. Logan moved to follow, but Ryouga's hand fell on his shoulder. The wild-haired man paused and glanced back at his companion, who's deep eyes were glassy and unfocused.   
  
"There are children here, Logan-san." Ryouga whispered. "Don't bother following him. He's not going to fight the both of us at one time. I don't want to endanger the people here any more than we already have. Please, let's just leave, Logan-san."   
  
Wolverine paused, his blood burning and his claws itching for the fight.   
  
"All right, kid." Logan assented. "We'll catch him later."  
  
"Oh, and Runt Jr!" Creed's wild laugh rang out in a horribly warped echo. Logan and Ryouga alone could hear him, far off into the distance. "I'll tell yer friends in Nerima that ya said Hi!"  
  
---  
  
Chapter Fifteen  
  
"I can't believe I was so stupid, Logan." He rubbed his forehead. "What the hell is wrong with me? . . . wait, what the hell ISN'T wrong with me."  
  
Logan glanced at him and was tempted to roll his eyes. His blood pressure must be ungodly high.  
  
"Throwing another hissy fit kid?" He inhaled a long swig of his cigar as he walked.  
  
"I am NOT throwing a--"  
  
"Pity-party?"   
  
Ryouga glared at his smoking companion.  
  
"Kid, you can't keep beating yourself up for your mistakes. There are plenty of people that'll do that for ya." He scowled and threw his cigarette stub on the ground, making sure to step on it. The goody two-shoes back at headquarters might get mad if he burned down a national forest. He pulled out another cigarette and looked at it. Hmm . . .maybe two would work better.  
  
"Logan-san I thought you were cutting back." Ryouga raised an eyebrow at his mentor who had two cigarettes in his mouth at once. Logan turned his head toward him.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Never mind. Where are we going anyway? I know we passed the border a few days ago." He looked at his surroundings. Large trees stretched out as far as he could see, and he could see quite far. Suddenly a thought occurred to him.  
  
"Logan? Why can't we get some of your friends to pick us up?"  
  
Logan's eyebrow twitched.  
  
"The Blackbird isn't a taxi cab kid."  
  
"The Blackbird?" Ryouga blinked. "What kind of a name is that?"   
  
"I wasn't there when the blasted jet was built, so I really have no idea what was going on in Cyke's head when he and the Prof. named it." The elder shook his head.  
  
"It's a jet?! " The Lost Boy's eyes bugged out.  
  
"Yeah, what'd ya think it was, a car?" the wild haired man snorted.   
  
"... yes..." the youth flushed and looked at the ground.  
  
"Heh. Don't worry about it, kid. No one's gonna get offended, 'specially not the jet."  
  
"... how far ahead of us do you think Creed is?" Ryouga asked after many moments of silence. Logan noticed that his student had tensed up incredibly after mentioning the taller mutant, and didn't miss the soft blue glow emanating from the youth's skin.  
  
"A day or two. Tops." The older man snorted. "He's not that much faster than I am, but he didn't leave much of a trail to go by, so he must be at least that far."   
  
"A day... or two." The green-eyed young man shuddered, thinking the amount of damage that could be done in that spans of time. "Logan-san?"   
  
"Yeah, kid?"  
  
"Can we pick up our pace? Just a bit?"  
  
"Of course."   
  
For at least two hours, they walked without another word. The giant trees above them kept their silence reverent. It wasn't until the earth below them started shaking violently that they even broke stride.  
  
"What the...?" Logan scowled, his claws slipping out of their sheaths of flesh.   
  
"Logan-san?" Ryouga quickly managed to balance himself, despite the unstable ground. "Is it an earthquake?"   
  
"I don't think so, kid," the elder growled, his eyes narrowing. "Claws. Now."   
  
Ryouga obeyed, but winced as the blood dripped from his talons when they shot through the top of his hand.   
  
"Kid..." Steel-blue eyes focused on one tree in particular, which was shaking even more vehemently than the ground, if possible. "Watch out. If this is what I think it is..."  
  
"Logan-san, what's going on?!" Ryouga shouted as said tree exploded outwards.  
  
"HALT. MUTANT." Before them stood at least a ton of gleaming steel and plastic, shaped roughly like a human.   
  
"A MECHA?!" Ryouga whipped out his umbrella from the top of his pack. "In America?"  
  
"Sentinel." Logan snarled, and leapt at the giant robot. "Huge piece o' metal designed to track and, if necessary, destroy mutants like me."   
  
"Logan-san, sometimes I wonder if your social life is more screwed up than mine...."  
  
The large machine moved suddenly, surprising the X-man. It swung its huge palm up to face the air-born fighter, and let loose a large laser blast that first burned away a good deal of his outer garb, and then slammed him into a tree.   
  
"LOGAN!" Ryouga yelled, turning towards his teacher. He almost tripped in shock when he saw the older man stand up and brush tattered bits of flannel and denim from a yellow, black and blue spandex costume. The mutant combatant growled and donned a mask that hid his wild hair and turned his eyes white.  
  
"Kami.... what is it with people and spandex these days?!"   
  
"Later, kid." Wolverine growled, lunging at the Sentinel a second time.   
  
The huge machine moved to blast him again, but was suddenly distracted by an explosion that blew off it's left 'foot'. Suddenly without balance, the robot began to teeter, allowing the spandex-clad mutant the perfect opportunity to disarm it with a well-placed strike of his claws. Likewise, Ryouga dodged the machine as it fell, nimbly twisting between trees.   
  
"AND STAY DOWN!" The X-man roared, slashing through the connector joints between the machine's 'head' and 'shoulders'. Still breathing heavily, he glanced down at the area where the Sentinel's 'foot' had once been, and found Ryouga's red bamboo umbrella embedded into the metal almost up to the end of the handle. A few inches below that, there was nothing. The rest of the machine below that mark had been blown off by the force of the impact, and lay several feet away.  
  
"Ryouga?" He looked up again, searching for any sign of his younger traveling companion. There was none. "Shit...."  
  
  
"Kami, how could I be so stupid? I should have just blown it up..." He twisted and turned, leaping over smaller obstacles with ease. "Now I have no idea where I am.... And that... that... that PSYCHO is going to kill my friends!"   
  
He felt his dark aura growing heavier, weighing him down, slowing his steps, and squeezing painfully around his heart.   
  
'And it's all.. my... fault...' He slipped on a patch of moss, something that, had he been in his right mind, he would have carefully avoided. 'I should be able to save them... Instead, I'm lost in the middle of nowhere...'  
  
'Lost... and...' He tried to turn over, but his pack dug into his back with a sharp pain. He slipped out of it easily, but in doing so, the contents spilled out. Among them was a package, wrapped in brown paper and tied up with some string. Ukyo's neat printing adorned the present; To Jackass. Have fun in America. Stay warm! Love, Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo.   
  
"I forgot about this..." he murmured to himself. He had been forced to stuff the gift into his pack when he boarded the plane, and his wild trip-mates had caused him to forget about it since then.   
  
His long fingers quickly made a mess of the already horrible knot, so he slashed through the string with one of his claws. The paper wrapping fell apart, revealing the heavy leather jacket inside.   
  
On top of it lay a picture of the whole Nerima gang, smiling (or their personal equivalent there of) at the camera. "Good Luck," was written on it, again, in Ukyo's handwriting.   
  
"You guys..." He whispered hoarsely, tears filling his eyes. He slid easily into the jacket, which fit perfectly. Briefly, he wondered when they had found his measurements, but that thought passed quickly. He zipped up the over garment, re-packed his bag, and slung it over his shoulder. His gaze was adamant as he stared at the distant break in the forest.   
  
"I'm going back to Nerima. I'm going to save my friends." He snarled. "I'm going to save them, even if it kills me." With the photo tucked safely into his jacket pocket, he took off at a dead run to meet the distant goal.  
  
---   
  
Shampoo's head hurt. A lot. A kegger party had looked like a good idea on paper but in reality it was less than stellar. She had looked for her airen all night, and hadn't been able to find him. Violent Akane must have trapped him somewhere. If only airen would let her kill Akane, all their problems would be solved.  
  
"Mousse, get ready close up shop now ok?" She rubbed her temples. Her head was throbbing.  
  
"Ok." Mousse left the back room, without a single declaration of love. He had been really smashed. Come to think of it, maybe Shampoo hadn't really meant drinking was sexy. . .  
  
He stepped through the door to the dining area and saw a large blur hunched over the counter top. He pushed his glasses back down.  
  
"Excuse me sir, but we're closed for the night."  
  
The figure stood and regarded the man coldly. The young Amazon man instantly tensed. His instincts were screaming that something wasn't right with this man. Even with Mousse's bad eyesight, the man looked threatening. His long black trench coat and hat , obscured his features from view. He towered over Mousse with an air of untrustworthiness.  
  
"Kitchen still open for me." He spoke in halted and badly accented Japanese, almost as if he hadn't used the language for many years.  
  
Mousse's eyes narrowed. "The kitchen is closed. Go home."  
  
The figure began to laugh. The sound was almost sickly, twisting the expression into something cruel and morbid. Mousse involuntarily reached for something large, sharp and jagged from underneath his robes.  
  
"Hibiki's been here. I knows it." He snickered, or began to cough it was hard to tell. "I smell the scent."  
  
"I don't know where Hibiki is. And I don't really care."  
  
The figure stopped laughing, and almost like an after thought backhanded Mousse across the face. The young man slammed into the wall of the Nekohaten loudly. A razor-edged pain slashed across his body. He slid from the wall and keeled over coughing up a bit of blood. Nothing that big should have moved that fast.  
  
He rose to his feet and was about to retaliate when Shampoo walked into the front room. A frown was evident on her face.  
  
"Mousse? What you do to make customer mad?" She looked over at him to make sure he was all right, he had just gotten the wind knocked out of him, and turned back to the tall figure.  
  
"Restaurant closed now. What you need?"  
  
"Hibiki. I smells him here."  
  
Shampoo wrinkled her nose. "Stupid lost boy in U.S. He bother great grandmother sometimes. He no back soon and Shampoo not care. Stupid spatula girl at Ucchan's know where is, probably. Restaurant closed. Go home." She crossed her hands in front of her chest.  
  
The figure turned and left without preamble. Slamming the door on the way out. One of the hinges broke, leaving it swinging on its side. Shampoo sighed and kneeled down next to Mousse.  
  
"Mousse, when you learn? Don't get self killed. Shampoo need you."  
  
Mousse looked up, shock evident on his face. Had Shampoo said she needed him? Oh rapture!  
  
"Do you . . ." Tears threatened to spill over his eyelids. " . . . really mean it?"  
  
"Course." Shampoo smirked. "It hard to clean up restaurant by self."  
  
Mousse's face fell. "Damn it."  
  



	4. Chapters 16-20 and Epilouge

Chapter Sixteen  
  
Ryouga was by no means a genius, but he wasn't a complete moron, either. He knew he'd never get to Japan by himself, and without Logan to lead him, his chances were next to nil.   
  
However, the need to save his friends was burning deep in the pit of his soul, and it was a fire that would not be quenched by any amount of self-hatred. He was determined not to fail.   
  
And it was with that determination that he concocted what had to be one of his most hare-brained schemes of all time.   
  
The lady at the desk of the airport was quite shocked when a young blind man stumbled into the terminal, looking quite worse for wear. He was garbed in black pants, which were dusty and slightly torn, and a coarse-looking gold shirt, which was covered by a heavy looking black jacket. His hand gripped tightly the pieces of a broken cane, the kind used to determine obstacles when one had no seeing eye dog.  
  
"Excuse me, " he called out, his unfocused green eyes glittering. "But I seem to be lost, and I'm about to miss a flight..."   
  
"Sir?" She walked up to him, and took a step back as he quickly turned in the general direction of his voice.   
  
"Can I help you?"  
  
"Oh, um, yeah," he stammered, looking quite embarrassed. "I'm needed back home, but I got lost on the way to the station, and I can't seem to get back on track." He dug absently into his jacket pocket, feeling around and pulling out a hand full of papers. Finding one he hoped to be the right size, he held out his plane ticket.   
  
"Well, sir, you're at the airport now..." She gave him an odd look, knowing he wouldn't see it anyway.   
  
"I am?" He broke into a grin, showing off his fangs. "Thank goodness! Please, can you help me? I'm supposed to go home for a very important problem, but I can't--"  
  
"Sir, this is an open ended ticket, you realize that, correct?" She asked.   
  
"Beg pardon?"   
  
"You can get to almost any airport in the world with this ticket." The airline employee shook her head.' Open ended probably isn't the word for it. She didn't think these were made anymore . . . but there was the seal . . .   
  
"I need to get to Tokyo." He admitted. "Please, miss--"  
  
"We'll take care of it, sir." She assured him, taking him by the hand and leading him to a seat. "Just leave everything to us. "  
  
"I'm much obliged." He smiled in relief.   
  
"You're in luck. The next flight to Tokyo leaves in an hour and a half." She patted him on the arm. "I'll find someone to help you to the plane. Do you have any luggage?"   
  
"Just my pack . . ." He shrugged out from under the heavy burden. "It's carry-on, right?"   
  
"Yes, sir, as long as it fits in the over head compartment."   
  
'It's not fitting I'm worried about,' he thought. 'It's whether or not the compartment is strong enough to hold it.'  
  
"You just wait here, all right?" The kind woman smiled at him, then remembered he couldn't see her. "I'll have someone come for you when the plane is ready to board."  
  
"Thank you very much, ma'am." Once more, he smiled. She couldn't help but think of what a handsome young man he was when he smiled. Even if he did have odd teeth.   
  
One hour and fifteen minutes later, a young woman dressed as a flight attendant approached the youth who had remained motionless in his chair for the entire duration of time.   
  
"Hibiki Ryouga?" She asked. The young man started, opening his brilliant green eyes and looking up. For a the briefest of moments, they remained focused, but this was unnoticed by the woman as she moved to help him up.   
  
"Hello?" He asked, absently, allowing his eyes to un-focus almost as rapidly as they had focused. "Who's there?"   
  
"I'm Sarah, I'll be helping you on the airplane, Mr. Ryouga." She reached for his pack, but his larger hand grabbed it first. 'Hmph. Guess he didn't realize we were going to pick that up for him.'  
  
"It's Japanese," he explained softly. "The name on the ticket is last name first. Sorry about the mix up." He half-smiled.  
  
"Oh, all right. Come with me, Mr. Hibiki." She took him by the hand and led him towards the boarding tunnel.   
  
Ryouga followed, all the while thinking of how stupid this plan was and how he couldn't believe it was working.   
  
Eight hours later, the plane Ryouga was on touched down at last. The martial artist could hardly contain his eagerness to return to Nerima, but he managed to maintain his facade until he was outside of the Tokyo airport. No meager feat, considering it took him another hour's worth of wandering to find the exit.   
  
Not willing to take any chances, he flagged down a taxi, and instructed the driver to take him to the Tendo Dojo in Nerima.   
  
Ryouga dug out his wallet, carefully counting out yen and all sorts of other coins. There was a small wad of paper money that Logan had handed him to buy supplies with. He had never gotten a chance to use it.   
  
To his greater surprise, it was in yen as well. His eyes almost bugged out as he saw the denominations.   
  
"What was Logan-sensei doing carrying around this much in yen while he was in Canada?!' he wondered.   
  
'Oh well, too late to find out now.' He sighed. "Driver, I'll throw in an extra Nine hundred yen if you can get me there in under half an hour."  
  
'Hang on, guys,' he thought darkly, sparks of blue light dancing from his body occasionally. 'I'm on my way.'  
  
---  
  
Ucchan's was closed for the evening, but that didn't stop Ranma and Akane from entering the establishment. The pig-tailed martial artist and his fiancee had pressing business with the proprietor.   
  
"Ran-chan--" Ukyo brightened as he entered. ". . . and Akane-chan." She exclaimed, though with only a slightly lesser amount of enthusiasm.   
  
"Hey, Ucchan, any word from Ryouga yet?" Ranma sat down at the grill. "We haven't heard from him at all, which is kinda odd. Usually, pork-butt sends letters, at least to tell us how he's getting along, or to send presents or something."  
  
"Now that you mention it, Ryouga's been gone quite a while." The chef stopped cleaning aforementioned hot-plate, while her ninja-trained employee brought out sodas for the three of them. "Thanks, Konatsu."   
  
"No problem, Ukyo!" The girl-raised boy smiled brilliantly. "I'll just go straighten up the front of the restaurant . . . if that's all right with you?"   
  
"Um, sure." She waved him away.   
  
"So you haven't heard from Ryouga either?" Akane noted glumly. "I hope nothing's happened to him. He's such a sweet boy, unlike some guys I know." She pointedly glared at Ranma, who had been leaning towards Ukyo. Ranma glared right back. Ukyo sighed.   
  
"Please, Akane-chan, not at the table."  
  
"Sorry Ukyo."  
  
The three teens paused suddenly as they sensed an extremely malicious presence.   
  
"Where Hibiki?" A coarse, accented voice came from outside the door, apparently addressing Konatsu.   
  
"I don't know who you're talking about, there's no one here at the moment by that name." Konatsu replied. "Hibiki hasn't been here in almost a month--"  
  
"Liar! Scent here!" The voice became angry, and much louder. Ukyo got out her spatula.  
  
"What the--?!" Konatsu's voice became panicked, an unusual tone of voice for the gender-confused ninja. A mere moment later, he was thrown through the wall and skidded to a stop at Ranma's feet. The martial artist pulled back upon noting that the youth's chest had been splayed open.  
  
"What the hell?" Ranma gasped.   
  
"Oh my gosh!" Akane yelped.   
  
"Konatsu!" Ukyo leapt over the counter.   
  
"Ukyo-sama . . ." the ninja groaned. "Be . . . careful.."  
  
"Where Hibiki?" A tall man slammed open the front door. Dressed in a dark trench coat and a hat. A feral grin crossed what was visible of his face.   
  
"Ryouga's not here." Ukyo glared at him. "He left for America. What's your business with him?"   
  
The man sniffed the air. "He wuz here," he muttered in English. "This place reeks o' him."  
  
"He was here." The gaijin snarled in Japanese.   
  
"Not in the last month or so." The chef's eyes narrowed. "Now please leave my store. Ranma, call the hospital. Konatsu needs help, and fast."   
  
"I don't think so, frail." Muscles bulged under the coat, and the man leapt towards at them.   
  
"Stay back, man." Ranma warned him, rising to his feet and slipping easily into a fighting position. The unnamed man lifted up one hand and showed the glittering claws that tipped his fingers, each one stained with blood.   
  
"Come. Try."   
  
----  
  
Chapter Seventeen  
  
Ranma sized up his opponent. The guy looked big and scary. He needed to lead him away from the others. His eyes darted back and forth trying discern what to do. The scary guy had more reach than him. One swipe with the claws and he was done for . . . and Akane and Ukyo for that matter to. The only solution was to not get hit . . . not even once.  
  
"Who are you?" Ranma step sideways maneuvering his opponent in front of the door and biding himself some time.  
  
"Creed." The figure grinned revealing a line of sharp teeth. Ranma built of his confidence. He wasn't going to lose. He couldn't let Akane and Ukyo down.  
  
"Well, Creed. You do know, I NEVER lose." He stopped his sidestepping as Creed was lined up perfectly with the door.  
  
"Heh I--"  
  
"Moko Takabisha!" Ranma extended his palms. A large blast of blue chi erupted from them, sending Creed flying out the door. He impacted into a telephone pole. His body slid off the wooden surface and lay limp upon the ground.  
  
Ranma walked out of the restaurant and smirked. He NEVER lost.   
  
Creed casually stood back up and brushed off his jacket.  
  
"Shit . . ."  
  
The maniac flashed him another alarming grin and pounced. Ranma kicked off the building and flipped far over Creed's head, on his way down he grabbed the lamp post and switched his momentum. Going with his forward momentum, he did a sliding kick and knocked his opponent off balance then hit him with a few hundred punches before he even hit the ground.  
  
He repeated the hit and run process several times, trying to wear him down. It always worked on Ryouga. Or at least . . . it used to work on Ryouga. Damn it! Why won't this guy fall down?!  
  
"All you have?" The tall man laughed, stretching in a distinctly feline manner. Truth was, Creed was hurting, but it was only a little. Besides, the bruises were all ready well into the healing process.   
  
"Moko Takabisha!" Ranma ki-blasted his opponent once more, pushing the blonde into the perfect starting position for the Hiryuu Shoten Ha spiral.   
  
Creed lunged, and Ranma flipped backwards to escape, kicking sharply upwards in the same movement. The heel of his foot caught the taller man in the chest. The blonde grunted.   
  
"Pathetic." He snorted, looking coldly down at the martial artist. "Friend can do better."  
  
"Friend?" Ranma blinked, and was almost caught in the swiping of claws.  
  
"Japan boy in America." Creed nicked the youth's face with his lethal claws, barely enough to draw blood.   
  
"Ryouga." The martial artist realized. "What did you do to Ryouga?!"  
  
The blonde mutant smiled in a blood-chilling manner, barring a set of fangs that nearly put Ryouga's to shame. He quickly drew his first finger across his throat in a slitting motion.  
  
Ranma let out a strangled cry, partly because of the shock of his best rival being dead, and partly because his opponent had managed to hit him in the ribs with a blow nearly as powerful as Ryouga's. He doubled over, then rolled between Creed's legs and attempted to sweep him. The foreigner's mass was too much, though, and Ranma was only able to get him to stagger off balance for a moment. The martial artist reset the spiral, pain burning not only in his wounds, but in his eyes in the form of tears.  
  
"He was my friend, you slime-sucking son of a bitch," Ranma snarled. "He was my friend!" Ranma meant it. He didn't realize it at the time, but he did.  
  
Dodge. Swipe. Duck. Slash. Roll. Punch. Twist.   
  
'Three more steps,' Ranma thought, 'and he'll have finished the spiral.'  
  
Lunge.  
  
Two.  
  
Kick.  
  
One.  
  
"HIRYUU SHOTEN HA!" A huge twister of brilliant ki energy rose into the air, hurricane force winds battering at the target in the center. Blow after blow after blow rained down...  
  
Ryouga, sitting in the cab, suddenly felt a great peak of energy. A mere second afterwards, the sky was abruptly lit up by the tornado of the Rising Dragon.  
  
The driver shuddered.   
  
"Glad we aren't going in that direction, ne?" he asked his passenger. "Must be one of those good for nothing martial artists again . . ."   
  
Ryouga, for his part, was stunned. What would cause Ranma to use the Hiryuu Shoten Ha? He only needed it on his strongest enemies... oh shit. Creed was here. And it may already be too late! Somehow, the bandanna wearing martial artist managed to restrain his battle aura. Flinging the remainder of his money to the driver, he shouted:  
  
"It's all yours if you'll just get me to the site of that fight!"   
  
Ranma's shoulders heaved, and his side ached. His opponent had to be down after that attack. He just had to. And yet, when the glow of the attack's energy had faded, and the dust had settled, Creed stood in the epicenter, bruised and bloody, but not down at all.   
  
"Bad move." The blonde growled, flexing. "Die now." Ranma nearly fainted right there. His energy was nearly gone; he barely could stand. His enemy was still standing, and he was still coming.  
  
The pig-tailed martial artist couldn't even dodge this time when Creed attacked. The huge man's movements were blurry to him, even the pain he felt from where the mutant's claws ripped up his chest was distant.   
  
He barely even heard the squeal of rubber on asphalt as a taxicab ripped around a corner and slammed into Creed's back. The tall mutant was thrown over Ranma's head, and directly into a wall. The passenger door opened, and there were distant footsteps. Someone called his name . . .  
  
"Saotome?" Ryouga examined his rival's wounds, sizing up the damage as he ripped off the other boy's shirt to make bandages. The taxi driver had already run off, glad to have made an incredible sum of money and to have escaped with his life.  
  
"Damn it, Ranma." Ryouga tied a bandage tightly around one of Ranma's worse wounds. Ranma blinked through and looked up at Ryouga through bleary eyes.  
  
"I was just getting warmed up." He coughed up a small trickle of blood.  
  
"Overconfident jerk." Ryouga looked over his shoulder. "Ranma, where's Creed?"  
  
His former rival groaned as his mind started to receded into unconsciousness. A scream from inside the restaurant alerted Ryouga to his enemy's whereabouts. Something large smashed through the one remaining window. Glass shards flew across the pavement like a jagged blizzard.  
  
The large figure seemed to be carrying something as it ran off. Ryouga was about to chase after it, when Akane ran out of the restaurant. Her face was streaked with tears. She dropped down next to Ranma's half-conscious form.  
  
"Ryouga . . . he took Ukyo. He said to tell you to come after him. We couldn't . . . I couldn't do . . . Oh god Ranma be all right please." She cradled his head in her lap and stroked his hair, lovingly as Ranma muttered softly. Ryouga felt his heart twist in two as he looked at the pair. It was all his fault. If he hadn't been there . . . If he could just leave them alone . . .  
  
He tore his gaze away and looked down the alley.  
  
"I'm going after him."  
  
"You can't!" Akane locked her gaze with his. "He's too strong, Ryouga. He beat Ranma. We have to regroup, get the others--"  
  
"Why?" Ryouga gazed hardened. His green eyes turned to steel. Akane felt as if she was looking into an abyss, an abyss of a man that had nothing left to lose. "Do you want them to be injured to?"  
  
Akane looked away.  
  
"This is MY fight. I didn't start it, but I am damn well going to finish it. No one messes with my friends. I'm going to make that bastard pay. For once, Ryouga Hibiki is going to win."  
  
His gaze softened for a brief moment. "Goodbye Akane."  
  
He turned and ran off following the trail of destruction Creed left in his wake as the ambulance pulled up.  
  
Akane sighed. "Come on you stupid jerk. Keep it together."  
  
"Child!" A voice called to Akane as the paramedics rushed to Ranma's side while the rest went inside the restaurant to help Konastsu. She looked up to see Cologne, sitting atop her cane. The old woman's face looked deeply troubled.  
  
"Child what happened here?" Cologne's face darkened. Ryouga wasn't here. Had he . . .No if he had there would be nothing left. "Where is Ryouga? I must see him."  
  
Akane stood up to let the paramedics tend to her fiancee. "This monster attacked us. He was after Ryouga but . . . he wasn't here yet. Then he took Ukyo and . . . what are we going to do?"  
  
"We _HAVE_ to find him. The curse on the spring has mutated. Ryouga can achieve the state of absolute Rage now without the curse. His metal skeleton and healing factor transferred over to the other side of the curse as well, and the berserker is slowly slipping through. If he manages to fall completely into his Rage without the curse, his human mind would be lost. Forever."  
  
Akane's face paled as Cologne's ancient eyes bore into her soul.  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
"He went after Ukyo . . . He's gone. You're too late."  
  
For the first time in two-hundred years, Cologne had nothing to say.  
  
----  
  
Chapter Eighteen  
  
That bastard! How dare he . . . how dare he! Fighting in some far away country was one thing, it was another to mess with his friends, or with Ukyo. Damn him! What if Creed hurt Ukyo? Ryouga would never forgive himself.  
  
Ryouga didn't notice the red aura growing around him as he almost subconsciously followed Creed's trail.  
  
He was going to make him pay. The stench of blood still hung around him. Did blood even have a stench? . . . well it sure as hell did now. Damn Ranma! How dare he allow himself to almost get killed! Who would take care of Akane?! Damn him, he better not die.  
  
Ryouga clenched his eyes shut tightly and balled his fists, desperately trying to contain his anger. If he lost his temper now, Creed would win. Ukyo would be dead. Creed would win.  
  
Hell, Ukyo could already be dead . . .   
  
He shook his head, chasing the vestiges of his despair away. He couldn't let himself fall into that pit right now . . . if he couldn't win against himself, how could he defeat anyone else?  
  
He stopped.  
  
"Great, Hibiki. You finally found out what was wrong with you. Too bad it's to late to do anything about it now."  
  
----  
  
It was three in the morning, and the airport was almost deserted. A few janitors meandered around, cleaning various scraps of trash, and a few others dozed lightly, but for the most part, there was no one to disturb the short man dressed in heavy black clothes while he leaned against the wall by the phone. His steel-colored eyes peered over top of the sunglasses he wore, despite the fact that it was still dark out. His wild black hair was partially contained by the cowboy-style hat he wore.   
  
"Tendo Dojo, Furinken High School, Nekohaten, or Ucchan's?" He spoke in English into the receiver. "Yer sure that's all there is?" The voice on the other end of the line garbled something.   
  
"Yeah, yeah, I realize it's hard to locate someone like him. I'll ask around. Thanks." He hung up, glanced around again, and removed his sunglasses.  
  
"Pardon me," he asked one of the night staff in perfectly fluent Japanese. "But how do I get to the Tendo Dojo?" The man paused and leaned on his broom.   
  
"Hibiki-san, huh?" he asked. "Your boy wandered through here earlier today. About nine o'clock or so."  
  
"No, no, I'm not his father." Logan felt a drop of sweat roll down his face. How many times was he going to get confused for his pupil's father?!  
  
"Oh!" The janitor bowed in apology. "I'm so sorry, sir. It's just the only other one who asks for the Tendo Dojo is Hibiki Ryouga . . ."   
  
"I understand." The Canadian-bred mutant relented. "I am a friend of his. It's very important that I find him."  
  
"I do believe he left in a taxi, sir." The custodian replied.  
  
"How do you know Hibiki-san, sir?" Logan asked, equally polite. "Are you a friend of his as well?"   
  
"Me? Oh, no." The other man shook his head fondly. "Hibiki-kun often wanders through here. There is not a person on staff who does not know Hibiki-kun. He is a great friend to us all. Occasionally, he even helps out with the cleaning or storage. We never can leave him alone for a minute, though." He chuckled.  
  
"Ah, I see." Logan nodded. "Thank you very much, sir."   
  
"You're welcome," the janitor smiled and continued on his way.   
  
Logan exited the airport, and found a taxi that was still operating.   
  
"Take me to the Tendo Dojo, please." He requested. The driver glanced at him.   
  
"You're the second person tonight who's wanted to go there." He said. "What is it about that place? It doesn't even have any students..."  
  
"Another person asked to go to the dojo?" Logan's eyes widened. "Was it a young man, about sixteen or seventeen, in a yellow shirt and black pants? With a bandanna?"   
  
"That was him. You're son, perhaps?"   
  
"Er, no..." The X-man sighed. 'Somewhere, I just know that Cyke is laughing at me.'  
  
"Too bad about that kid, though." The driver shook his head, pulling away from the curb.   
  
"What do you mean?" Logan felt his blood turn to ice.   
  
"Oh, didn't you hear? There was another one of those martial artist fights down in the commercial district tonight."   
  
"Another fight?"   
  
"Yeah. Supposedly, the best fighter in Nerima went down today. Some kind of wild man, fighting with claws..."   
  
"Shit...."  
  
"Yeah, really. The kid wanted to go right to the scene of the fight. While it was happening, no less! Crazy, huh?"   
  
"You mean, it wasn't him fighting?"   
  
"Nah, the kid just hopped out and started bandaging up the fighter . . ."   
  
"Driver, I'll double your fare if you take me there."   
  
"I'll be able to retire after tonight." The taxi cab driver laughed, taking a sharp turn to the direction of the fight scene.   
  
The cold wind bit into his face. The temperature was dropping dramatically the higher he rose in altitude. The ragged tress did little to shield him from the icy wind, or even detour it. The air was becoming thin. Ryouga felt slightly lightheaded, but he stubbornly pushed the feeling down.  
  
He stopped for a moment and sniffed the air. There was something familiar about the scent . . .  
  
His eyes darted to the ground and the underbrush next to the path. A small flash of silver caught his eyes and he bent down next to a bush. A small throwing spatula lay between the thorns. Ryouga picked it up.  
  
It had to be Ukyo's. Hell, it SMELLED like Ukyo. She must have dropped it to help him follow the trail. It had been a nice gesture, but really useless. There was no way she could have dropped it without Creed's heightened senses noticing. He had let her do it. He wanted him to follow. How long he would keep up the charade though, no one knew.  
  
"I'm coming Ukyo . . . hold on."  
  
----  
  
Ukyo couldn't believe it. She had been kidnapped. Of all the stupidest, sexist, things in the world to happen . . . Damn it! She didn't want to be part of a cliché! It was so embarrassing. She might as well tripped on her high heels. Well, she didn't wear high heels, but if she did, she'd probably trip on them. It wasn't fair. ONLY AKANE WAS SUPPOSED TO GET KIDNAPPED!  
  
The walking carpet monster slightly in front of her stopped for a moment and sniffed the air. A feral grin spread across his twisted face. He looked back at her and pointed to the ground.  
  
"Sit now. We eat."  
  
She grudgingly sat down. The carpet monster . . . er, Creed sat a few feet across from her and began to build a fire.   
  
Ukyo glared at him. "We eat?"  
  
"No. I eat. Heh heh heh heh. You no eat." He snickered to himself as if he made some grand joke. Perhaps it would have sounded more witty if he didn't sound like a preschool program on crack.  
  
Ukyo stared at the mossy ground for a moment, feeling the smooth blades of grass between her fingers. She was so hungry. Her stomach felt like it could burn a whole through itself. She'd be damned though if she let this ass-hole see her suffer.  
  
"Why are you doing this?" She looked up as her kidnapper ignited a fire.  
  
His cold ruthless eyes that had long ago forsaken any emotion save blood lust and hatred, glanced up at her. "Because I can."  
  
Ukyo clinched her fists. She couldn't let herself die here, in some abandoned wilderness. She WOULDN'T. She refused to go out like some maiden in distress. If only Ran-chan were here . . .  
  
She winced inwardly as the memory as Ranma's beaten form came to mind.  
  
Even Ryouga would do at this point . . . But would he even care enough to come? She wasn't his girlfriend, they were barely even friends. She hadn't even been nice to him most of them time. He was a nice guy, really sweet when he wanted to be. Kinda like Ran-chan sometimes . . .But would he really go after her? Could he even find her if he wanted to?  
  
----  
  
The hospital doors swung open soundlessly, and much in the same manner, a man entered the building. His steel colored eyes swept over the area, scanning for something specific. His nostrils flared, and his jaw tightened as he found what he was looking for.   
  
"Can I help you, sir?" a nurse asked as he silently walked down the hall.   
  
"No, thank you, I know where I'm going." He replied. His grim expression deterred the medical aide from asking further questions as he passed her.   
  
He stopped outside the elevator.   
  
'Crap,' he thought. 'This is going to make things harder.' He pressed the button for 'up', and then crossed his arms and wished he had a cigarette. The scowl he wore further developed, so that by the time the elevator arrived, people scurried away from him.   
  
He got on, pressed the button for the next floor up, and waited. When the doors open, he stuck his head into the hall and sniffed the air. Not finding whatever it was that he was seeking, he re-entered the elevator and pressed the button for the next floor up.  
Thirteen floors later, he found the scent again.  
  
A group of people sat mournfully around one room, each one appearing both disheartened and afraid. The two most notable scents were those of a young woman with short, dark blue hair and an old woman with long white hair. Both of their scents had been at the fight scene.   
  
From the other end of the hall, the old woman sensed his approach. His keen sight caught her movement as she opened her large eyes and watched him in return.  
  
No one else paid him much mind as he walked towards them.   
  
He stopped a few feet away from the nearest person, a young man with long black hair, white robes, and thick glasses. If Logan hadn't known better, he would have guessed the figure to be a girl, but his senses told him otherwise. They also told him that the young man was carrying an almost incalculable amount of weaponry.  
  
Beside the boy was a purple-haired girl dressed in Chinese-style clothing. She was crying, wiping her eyes on his sleeve every so often. The boy didn't seem to mind, rather, he was offering the use of his garment as a tissue. Logan's mind officially noted him down as 'whipped'.  
  
The short-haired girl was praying silently, too absorbed in her hope to contact a higher authority. Only the old woman was paying him any mind.  
  
"Why have you come here, Eternal One?" She asked him quietly in Chinese.   
  
"You're an Amazon," he realized out loud, speaking in the same tongue. Only the Amazons had called him Eternal One.   
  
"I am." She nodded. "But you have not yet answered my question. Why have you come here, Eternal One? The boy is not with us."   
  
"Great-grandmother." The purple-haired young woman looked up, causing her self-designated Kleenex to follow suit. "Why do you address him as Eternal One? He cannot be even as old as you. He doesn't look much older than Akane Tendo's father."   
  
"Appearances can be deceiving." The boy beside her whispered, all of them speaking the same language. "Xian Pu, his aura his ancient. Older than Kuh Lon's."   
  
"Eh?!" Her eyes opened wider. "You're right, Muu Tsu. His aura is old... And... odd."  
  
"Child, show respect!" Cologne snapped. "This is Logan, the Eternal One. The one we sent Hibiki to find. He was the last berserker."  
  
"Until you sent the boy to me." Logan crossed his arms. "I am not the last anymore."  
  
"Why are you here, Eternal One?" Cologne asked again. "The boy is not with us. He went after the Man-Beast that attacked the boy who is in there." She pointed to the hospital room.  
  
"Tell me what happened." Logan asked quietly. "Where is the boy?"  
  
"The boy went after the Man-Beast." Cologne repeated. "The Man-Beast attacked the other boy, and abducted a girl. He went to go retrieve the girl."  
  
"A Man-Beast?" The older man's eyes narrowed and darkened. "Tell me. Was this creature tall, with blonde hair?"  
  
"We don't know." Cologne shook her head. "The only one who saw the beast was her." She nodded to the praying girl. Logan swiftly crossed the remaining distance between them, then politely tapped her on her shoulder.   
  
"Who are you?" She asked in Japanese, looking up. "What do you want?"  
  
"Miss, my name is Logan. I'm--" He began, switching languages as necessary.  
  
"You're the one we sent Ryouga to find." She whispered. "Have you seen him? Do you know where he is?"  
  
"Miss, I want to ask you about the creature that attacked you earlier tonight." He shook his head, avoiding her questions. "Can you please tell me what he looked like?"  
  
"I didn't see very much of him." She admitted. "It was dark. All I could see was that he was tall and big, in a muscled way. I think he was blond, too, but it was difficult to tell. He spoke English, though. He yelled at both Ukyo and I before he took her. Said something about 'Runt Junior's woman' . . .?"  
  
'I wonder why Creed thought this Ukyo was Ryouga's girlfriend...?' Logan thought. 'He never mentioned her. Besides, his scent would have faded from her by now, even if they had been together.'  
  
"Poor Ryouga." The girl whispered. "He must think that this is all his fault . . ."   
  
"In a way, it is." He snorted. "He accidentally let slip where he was from in a battle against the creature you fought. He's probably going to try to atone by getting this Ukyo back, and, if possible, killing Creed."  
  
"Creed?" Shampoo blinked, breaking into the conversation.  
  
"That's the creature's name." Logan growled.   
  
"Do you think Ryouga can win?" Mousse asked.   
  
"Maybe." The older man snorted. "If he doesn't fall into Rage, then he has a chance."  
  
"By the way," Logan turned back to the blue-haired girl, finally remembering why he had come. "How's the boy?" He nodded towards the ICU room, wherein lay the victim of Creed's twisted fighting.  
  
"They think he'll be all right." She tired to smile. "I'm praying for him."   
  
"Heh." He crossed his arms. "I'm going to find Creed. Hopefully, your friends will still be alive by that time."  
  
'Although the real question whether it's Creed or Ryouga that's more dangerous right now...' he thought grimly, walking away from the others.  
  
---  
  
Ryouga hunched in the hollow of an old tree and slept restlessly, dreaming of blood.  
  
---  
  
Chapter Nineteen  
  
Ukyou had never felt more helpless in her life. All those years of martial arts training had been for nothing. When it came down to it, they didn't matter a damn bit. She was still a sheep being preyed on by the wolves. No matter how good you are there was always still someone better. But she'd be damned if she let this bastard get any satisfaction from it.  
  
"Boyfriend not coming." Creed laughed to himself a short distance in front of her. "He must found new girl."  
  
Ukyou clinched her fists but remained silent.  
  
"Die here all alone. No tears for you." Creed stopped a moment and turned back to her. Ukyou stiffened as he approached. He stopped a few feet in front of her. He stared at her a moment, unmoving until--  
  
"Boo!" He feigned jumping out at her. Ukyou involuntarily recoiled. She mentally cursed herself as he turned around and continued their walk. Damn that bastard! She never would have thought it, but there was one man in the world that made Genma look good. Damn him . . . She desperately held back tears. No, there would be no tears for that scum.  
  
Several more minutes passed before Creed stopped again and sniffed the air. His sneer widened. He looked around the clearing for a moment, as if searching for something. Seemly finding what he wanted, he stopped down and reached for something in a hole. To Ukyou's horror he pulled out a white baby bunny by the scruff of its neck. It writhed and squealed in protest.  
  
"Ribbon and spatula." He held out a hand expectantly. Ukyou hesitated. The baby bunny's eyes reflected such a primal fear. Creed growled impatiently again, a growl that promised the many things that he would do to her if she did not obey. Reluctantly she handed him the spatula and closed her eyes tightly.  
  
She couldn't, however, drown out the animals screaming and the blood that sprayed on her hands and face.  
  
Creed dropped his present in their path and continued on in morbid glee.  
  
---  
  
Ryouga was getting closer. He could hear it in his heart. He could hear it in his bones. His senses were alive like they had never been before. It was like all his life he had been blindfolded and then suddenly the blindfold had been taken off and a whole new world opened up.  
  
The forest was alive. It wasn't like when he had turned into a pig, that was different. They weren't hunters, they were the hunted. This time _HE_ was the hunter. _HE_ was the one that was going to kill. Wait no . . . he was here to save Ukyou. He had to remember Ukyou. She was important. She was a friend. Hunters don't have friends. So he wasn't a hunter? NO! He was Ryouga Hibiki damn it! He couldn't let this curse have him. He had to save Ukyou, nothing else mattered. He never could save Akane, he couldn't save Akari from himself, but he DAMN well was going to save Ukyou.  
  
He stopped abruptly. Hanging on a tree in front of him was one of Ukyou's spatula's covered in blood. The crimson drops dripped down a white ribbon and fell onto the grass. Upon the tree was scratched a message in English.  
  
To RUNT JR:  
What do you think little girls are made of ?  
  
---  
  
A haunted scream filled the air, echoing across the lonely hills. Ukyou shivered in the frigid night and wondered what kind of animal could be making such a tortured sound . . . and why.  
  
---  
  
The sky was filled with the color of blood. Sunset fell over the forest like a peaceful blanket. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of the forest were very unpeaceful. The dying light cast long shadows over the trees and rocks, black shrouds of mystery against the rusty-hued earth.   
  
In particular, the sunset threw it's brilliant crimson mantle over the figure running between light and darkness. The figure of a young man sped over the uneven terrain as if it were nothing; his body was strong and used to nature's many quirks. His feet found holds where a normal man would have fallen, and he easily cleared in a single leap fallen logs and ditches that would have taken any one else several minutes to climb.   
  
Nothing stood in his way. He was a man on a mission, and his targe lay just ahead.   
  
His eyes were the color of bricks in late afternoon, but the tint wasn't from the sunlight. His mouth was turned down in what could have been a permanent scowl, but his upper lip was curled back slightly to reveal his sharp fangs. His hair brushed by his eyes unnoticed as he nimbly wove inbetween the trees.  
  
His nostrils flared as he sniffed the air, hunting down a scent with the ruthlessness of a wild dog. He slowed, halting in his hunt, and shook his head to clear the red haze from his eyes.   
  
'I have to stay in control,' he thought. 'For Ukyo's sake, if she's still alive, that is. Creed, you bastard, you better have not killed her, or I swear to every god in existence, I will make you wish you had never been born..." Blood ran down his clenched hand in a brief trickle as his own nails broke his skin, but the wounds were healed almost immediately thereafter.   
  
'I need a plan.' His broad shoulders trembled with his effort to maintain a clear mind despite the urgency the situation presented. 'Creed's scent is really fresh. He probably only has a few minutes worth of distance on me. I...' His thoughts trailed off as he noticed the forest had gone uncharacteristically silent.   
  
'He must be close.' Ryouga Hibiki's eyes narrowed maliciously. 'Need a plan, need a plan, need a plan!' His eyes scanned the landscape around him. Up ahead, the mountainside was broken into tiers, forming cliffs over itself due to cold weather breaking the rocky formations. The already thinning trees died out to more or less non-existant, but the few that stood were ancient and strong.   
  
He eased further along the trail, keeping on his guard, until he found it. Creed's camp, barely six hundred feet away.  
  
The tall blonde mutant was sitting, probably eating. Next to him was a figure clad in muted tones of blue and black. The shadows falling on this still form nearly blotted her from existence, but Ryouga's eyes caught her. To Creed's back was a cliff; 'The walking carpet bag is probably using it as a wind breaker,' Ryouga thought with disgust as he finally began to notice the chilled, thinned air.   
  
The barest bones of a plan formed in his muddled mind; a meager plot in comparison to some that had been lain before him in the past. However, when filtered in with the bloody, gory images that had filled his dreams and sometimes even his waking moments, that simple plot seemed to be heaven-sent.   
  
Six shining claws slipped free of the grisly sheaths of his forearms without sound. The sunset's light barely glinted off of them, but the death of day turned them red like the blood that would soon bathe the ground.   
  
His eyes reflected the very same glint of blood... and death.  
  
---  
  
"He's here." Creed smiled darkly. Ukyo shuddered at the expression and silently began to pray.  
  
---  
  
Ryouga crept silently up the hill. The last rays of light were dying from the horizon; already, stars were beginning to make their appearance in the midnight-blue sky above his head.  
  
His calloused hands found the end of the cliff quickly. The cold wind stung his hands and face, but his mind didn't register the chill. He quickly peered over the edge. He was right above Creed.   
  
His upper lip curled back from his fangs again, but he silenced the growl that was building in his throat. He shook his head again to try and clear the red haze from his vision once more.   
  
'Stay in control!' He thought viciously, pushing the gruesome thoughts of eviscerating Creed to the back of his head. 'First you have to win.'  
  
Drawing himself up to his full height, he smirked darkly. Pure crimson flashed through his eyes.   
  
'This one time . . . I won't lose.' He promised this to himself as he clenched his fists, extended his claws to their full length, and then took the final step off the ledge. 'Ryouga Hibiki will not lose!'  
  
He jumped.  
  
---  
  
Chapter Twenty  
  
Sabertooth chuckled as he heard the boy jump from above him.   
  
'That boy's an idiot to think that I wouldn't know he's here!' the mutant thought, a dark smile revealing his razor sharp teeth. Every muscle in his body tensed as he tingled with anticipation . . . then suddenly spun around and sliced upwards. His estimation paid off; his claws entered the falling boy's flesh right below his rib cage.   
  
"RYOUGA?!" The girl on the other side of the camp screamed as the boy's own weight and momentum further impaled him on Victor Creed's claws. The tall man smiled viciously, his wild eyes locking solidly with the youth's wide, shocked earthen eyes.   
  
"Hello again, Runt Jr." The blonde snarled, tossing the wounded boy into the cliff. A crater four feet in diameter was formed from the impact, and several shards of rock went flying.   
  
"Damn you..." Ryouga growled, climbing slowly to his feet even as the torn flesh knitted back together. "I won't lose to the likes of you!"  
  
"I don't think yer gonna get much of a say in the matter!" Creed said in English, laughed, and lunged again. The martial artist saw the attack coming, however, and twisted to the side so that instead of having his chest ripped apart, only his arm was lightly cut.   
  
Sabertooth's attack left him over-extended, and Ryouga leapt on the opportunity that the mistake presented. The Lost Boy turned using the momentum of his dodge and delivered a strong kick to his opponent's back, shoving the heavier man straight into the sheer rock surface.  
  
The blonde man pushed off from the cliff and faced the young man, who's abdominal wound was almost completely healed. The mutant grinned in a feral manner, and with a sickening crunch, set his nose back in place so it, too, could heal. The younger fighter slipped into a defensive position, totally unaware of the crimson hue his eyes were adjusting to.  
  
Ryouga easily fell into the role of the aggressor, his superior martial arts training giving him a slight edge over the larger man. His claws slipped in and out throughout the duration of the fight to allow him to deliver crushing blows that were designed to cripple, but not kill. He wasn't finished with Ukyo's abductor quite yet.  
  
And then Ryouga made a mistake.  
  
Ukyo's eyes widened in horror as a scream died in her throat. The Lost Boy had just attempted a double-back-hand with his claws extended, an attack designed to blind his enemy forever. But Creed had been ready for such a maneuver, and had ducked under the blow. For one brief moment Ryouga was completely unguarded; his arms were both extended to his sides, and his legs were busy keeping him balanced. All the young man could do was think, "Shit," while the tall fighter lunged upwards with both clawed fists. One set sank deeply into the boy's chest, sharpened fingers digging past cold metal plated bones. The other pierced the soft flesh of Ryouga's throat, splashing pure red blood everywhere.   
  
The Lost Boy's ruddy, earthy eyes were covered in the crimson liquid that filled his lungs and mouth and ran down his face like tears.  
  
"Ry . . . RYOUGA!" Ukyo screamed at the top of her lungs, wishing that she had some kind of weapon. Hand-to-hand combat was her weakness, and Sabertooth's strength. She'd never be able to avenge her friend without something . . .  
  
"Almost forgot you," the blonde, blood-drenched mutant dropped his prey, turning quickly to the girl who scrambled to find something to attack with. He managed to take two steps towards her before an iron grip caught his ankle and twisted.   
  
Sabertooth howled in pain as every bone in his ankle was shattered, and turned to see what caused his agony. What he saw was a monster in its own rights.   
  
The darkness had fallen during their fight, causing most of the younger's distinctive traits to be shadowed heavily. He kept low to the ground, balanced unnaturally easily on all fours, with claws extended and glinting under the moonlight. Sharp fangs were bared to the night, but it was the blood red eyes that startled Creed the most. Sharp, angled crimson eyes that the mutant had seen once before, in a fight that almost killed him.   
  
A low, animalistic growl sounded from the youth's healed throat.   
  
"How?" Creed gaped. "Even Runt can't heal that fast . . ."  
  
In a blur of shadows, the Rage possessed Ryouga had cut deeply into the mutant's vital organs, effectively crippling him. All six talons plunged into Sabertooth's stomach and twisted. The blonde's eyes darted rapidly from side to side, seeking some measure of escape. He tried to back up to get the metal talons out of his body so that he could begin healing, but the Lost Boy dug his claws deeper into Creed's flesh until they pierced the other side. Victor's eyes fell on the edge of the mountain, the pain distorting the distance between himself and a possibility of escape. Gritting his teeth, the mutant shoved backwards with all of his strength, causing them both to go off balance. Ryouga was thrown to the ground, but Sabertooth pitched off the side of the cliff, where the enfuriated youth couldn't follow.   
  
Sabertooth's formed disapeared into the misty depths of the chasm, grinning sadistically like a sinner going to hell. Ukyou could hear her heartbeat in the silence that followed. A feeling of terror crept up her spine as the seconds ticked by. Ryouga stood pefectly still, his shoulders slumped. Long trickles of blood ran down his arms and legs like rivers, and fell to the ground creating crimson pools in the dirt.  
  
"R-Ryouga?" Ukyou's soft whisper shattered the cold silence. She stood to her feet slowly. Still Ryouga did not move, staring at the place Creed had once stood. The blood flow was lessening to tiny freckles tainting his arms and legs.  
  
"Ryouga? Snap out of it. I know your strong--" She was abruptly cut off by a deep gutteral growl coming from the figure she had once called her friend. But . . . nothing human could make that sound. Nothing human could be that filled with hate, anger, . . . and animalistic rage.  
  
"Damn it Ryouga." Ukyou's voice caught slightly with supressed tears. Deperation welled up within her, but was quickly pushed down. She wouldn't die here. She couldn't. It just wasn't fair and . . . NO DAMN IT! SHE WASN'T GOING TO DIE LIKE THIS! NOT NOW! NOT HERE! NOT LIKE THIS!  
  
Ryouga's trio of deadly claws glistened with fresh blood, as Ukyou watched with an almost morbid fascination. Whether it was Ryouga's or Creed's blood she couldn't tell. Not that it mattered really now.  
  
"Don't do this. Your better than this."  
  
Ryouga's body slowly turned around. His scarlet filled eyes gazed into Ukyou's hazel ones. She stared back into the dark twin abyss, where nothing lived, nothing grew, and nothing ever escaped. They weren't human eyes. They belonged to a being of pure hate that knew no caring . . . no love. There was nothing but unbridaled uncontrolled RAGE. . .  
  
Ryouga took a step toward her.  
  
It wasn't fair . . . She didn't want to die. She was too young to die. There was so many things she hadn't experienced yet, hadn't felt. For it all to be taken away like this . . . for her life to end so quickly by . . . by. . .  
  
Something snapped within Ukyou's pyche.  
  
WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS?!  
  
"YOU JACKASS!" Ukyou echoed off the hills. Ryouga's step faltered. "DAMN IT! Your just going to let it end like this?! Are you just going to let this end like everything else?! Are you going to let yourself lose again?!"  
  
Ryouga stopped. Something was wrong . . . something wasn't right. But the rage . . . we had to fufill the rage . . there was nothing but the rage . . . hehadtofueltheragehecouldn'tstopnow . . . he he  
  
"Are you a born loser Hibiki? Are you just going to give up and succumb to it? Like some . . . some WHIPPED DOG?!" Salt tears slipped down Ukyou's cheeks.  
  
But but . . . loser . . . he wasn't a loser . . . but . . . the abyss was so close he couldn't get through . . . he had to kill her . . . yes . . . yes . . . kill her and make the hurting stop . . . NO! no . . . nonononono if the voices would just stop screaming he could . . .  
  
"Are you just going to lay down and die?! OR ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT?!"   
  
NO!!!!! . . . he wasn't going to lose . . . not this time . . . no he couldn't . . . he wasn't a . . . Ukyou said . . . he . . . didn't want . . . to . . . no . . . he didn't want to kill . . . he didn't want to . . . he . . . oh the screaming . . . was that Ukyou screaming? No! . . . Was someone hurting Ukyou? . . . was it him? . . . would he . . . NO! He wasn't going to lose! but the voices . . . they wouldn't . . .  
  
Ryouga collapsed to the ground, falling to his knees in the cold dead earth. The voices inside his head seemed to rise in intensity. Betrayl, hate, lose, depression . . . murders, victims, mothers who had lost their children to war, victims of disease, victims of accidents, people who were taken before their time, they were all screaming inside his head with one voice . . . yet many voices. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. It wasn't fair! Why wasn't it fair?! They just kept screaming and . . . and . . .  
  
"Ryouga?" Ukyou's voice was barely above a whisper as she knelt down beside him. Ryouga craddled his head into his hands and shut his eyes tightly, trying to block the voices. Bloody tears streamed down his face and chin.  
  
"I can't . . ." Ryouga's voice was choked with sobs. "They won't be quiet Ukyou. I can't make them stop. It's all my fault . . . and I can't fix it. I'm so sorry . . . so sorry."  
  
Ukyou, not sure of what to do, put a hand tentivley around Ryouga's shoulders. "It's ok. I'm ok."  
  
Ryouga, beyond embarrassment, desperatley tried to choke back his sobs. Satly tears streamed down the side of his face and fell to the ground to mesh with the pools of blood.  
  
"It's just that--" Ryouga swallowed. "I can't seem to do anything right. I always freak out and mess everything up. I just wanted to save you, and make it all better. But I messed up again and I almost . . . I almost . . ."  
  
"But you didn't. You _DIDN'T_." Ukyou tightened her hold around Ryouga's shoulders. Ryouga looked up and leaned back on his knees. Ukyou smiled. "You didn't. You kicked some ass sugar. You saved me." Her eyes softened. "You won."  
  
"I . . . did?"  
  
"Yeah you did." She reached down and helped him rise to his feet. He winced in pain slightly, promting Ukyou to sling his arm around her shoulder. Ukyou winked at him. "Not that I needed help or anything of course."  
  
Ryouga scowled for a moment, then his face cracked into a small smile. "Of course not."  
  
"Thanks for lying jackass."  
  
Ryouga's grin widened, showing a small fang. "Anytime."  
  
Ukyou laughed, and turned toward the direction they had came, shouldering Ryouga's weight until he healed fully. "Come on jackass, let's go home."   
  
----  
  
Epilouge  
  
Logan tensed up as the scent of blood hit his senses, strongly. After he left the hospital, he returned to the site of the battle and followed Ryoga's, and consequently Sabertooth's, trail far into the wilderness outside of Nerima. The sudden change from nature's own scents to those of destruction and carnage hit him like an adamantium-coated fist to the gut.   
  
The scent of the blood wasn't fresh; it had probably been spilt hours ago and was now just drying. Both Ryouga's and Sabertooth's scent were very potent.   
  
"Honest, Ukyo, I'm alright now!" A young man's voice in the distance was caught by his enhanced senses.  
  
"Sugar, I saw you get ripped up and tossed around like a rag doll by that . . . that . . . thing!" A girl's voice retorted. "There's no way that you, even with this amazing healing power you've told me about, can be alright this quickly."  
  
The breeze carried their scents towards him; one was definately Ryouga, while the other was the slightly familiar scent of one of the girls who had been at the restaraunt when Creed had attacked.  
  
Speaking of the walking carpet bag, his scent lingered on both children, but, as they were both relatively near by and still capable of arguing with each other, Logan came to only one conclusion.  
  
"Ryouga?" The older man shouted, and his voice carried through the night air. He could hear the children's footsteps cease as they heard his voice.   
  
"Who's that?" The girl whispered tenatively.   
  
"That?" Logan could almost picture his student grinning ruefully. "That's my teacher."  
  
"Who?" She demanded.   
  
"Logan-san!" Ryouga shouted. "We're over he--"   
  
CLANG! Something metal hit the Lost Boy upside the head.   
  
"What if it's Creed, playing a trick?" The girl hissed. "How do you know it's really him? And isn't that Logan guy supposed to be in America?"  
  
"It's not Creed." Ryouga grumbled. "I can tell."   
  
Logan swiftly approached the two, studying their situation in the dim light.   
  
"I'll take it you won?" the short man grunted in English, crossing his arms. Ryouga scowled, an expression Logan had become all too familiar to seeing on the boy's face.   
  
"Creed fell off a cliff," the boy responded in the same language. "I couldn't follow him."  
  
"Then I'll just have to take care of him permenantly next time I see him." Logan growled. "Don't worry about it, kid. I'll handle him for you. You've earned your rest."   
  
Ryouga glared at him.   
  
"Hey, I can take care of myself, and my friends!" he objected. "I'm a martial artist--"   
  
"And I'm an X-man." The older cut him off. "I'm trained to deal with that psycho."  
  
"Logan-san, don't you think I can take him? I already beat him once--"  
  
"I'm not saying that you can't take him down." Logan sighed, understanding his student's wounded pride. "I'm just saying that I'd like to do it for you--"  
  
CLANG! CLANG!  
  
Both men were floored as Ukyo screamed, "PLEASE SPEAK IN JAPANESE!"   
  
Logan pulled himself out of the soil and brushed off the dirt.   
  
"And this is the girl you've chosen?" He asked Ryouga, just quietly enough for the Lost Boy's enhanced senses to hear.   
  
Ryouga only blushed in reply.   
  
"I'm sorry," Logan apologized with a small bow. "I sometimes forget to switch languages."   
  
"Ah, well, it's okay." Ukyou replied, the large spatula-- 'Spatula?'-- disappearing as she dusted off her hands.   
  
"Logan, this is Kounji Ukyou; one of my friends." Ryouga introduced them as he stood up. "Ukyou, this is Logan, my teacher."   
  
"It's an honor to finally meet you, Logan." Ukyou bowed deeply after the initial shock had set in. 'So this is the man who trained Ryouga to fight like that?' She repressed the urge to shudder; if Ryouga fought like a demon, and he had only just begun to train, how would this man fare?'  
  
"How are Ranma and Konatsu?" Ryouga broke in quietly. "You've been to the hospital, I can smell the disinfectant."   
  
Ukyou blinked in surprise, but Logan merely snorted.   
  
"They'll be fine, I think," he replied. "I did drop by the hospital, and I met up with a bunch of Amazons. Creepy people, those Amazons. 'Kept calling me Eternal One."  
  
"Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne." Ukyou groaned. "Figures they'd be there."   
  
"Do you . . . want to go and see them?" Ryouga asked cautiously, gently touching her shoulder. "We could swing by the hospital, if Logan leads the way, that is."  
  
"Heh, we're swinging by the hospital anyway, just to make sure you didn't damage anything important, sugar." Ukyou glared at him, but she was smiling as she rapped his forehead with her knuckles.   
  
"Argh, I told you, I'm all healed up!" The Lost Boy objected, looking highly indignant.   
  
"So you say, sugar, but I'm not about to let you wander off and fall off a cliff or something and not be able to get up because something doesn't heal right. Now, if you'll please, Logan-san, lead the way to the hospital?"   
  
Logan just snorted, and gestured for them to follow him. The darkness hid his knowing smirk.  
  
---  
  
Ukyou, Ryouga, and Logan finally reached the hospital, after a few days of travel. It had been an interesting trip if nothing else. Ukyou and Ryouga seemed an endless supply of entertainment to Logan. Unfortunately, the trip had to come to an end, saving Ryouga from further embarrassment. Like the kid thought he was covering it up . . . yeah right.  
  
The hospitals curving hallways seemed to melt together in Ryouga's mind. These things were always built like mazes. They probably made it that way on purpose so people would run into walls and have to stay longer. Evil bastards.  
  
A quick question to a nurse sent them to the third floor. Sounds of an epic battle seemed to rage from within the hospital room was they stood before it. Ryouga frowned. What the hell could be going on? Ranma had the most enemies of anyone he knew . . . except maybe Logan but he never seemed to be the 'make nice with the crowd' type anyway. Damn it...what if someone was taking advantage of his condition?!  
  
Ryouga rushed into the room, only to discover . . . something far worse.  
  
"No way! I'm not doing it! You can't make me! Nonononono....I refuse to be brought down by--"  
  
"Jerk! Just eat the food I made for you!"  
  
"No! I'm not going back to the brink of death again!"  
  
"Come on Ranma! I worked hard on these cookies!"  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Come on!"  
  
"Damn it Akane I'm in a freaking hospital bed. Can't you have a little sympathy?"  
  
"That's why I made the cookies jerk."  
  
" . . . oh thank you then."  
  
"Your welcome."  
  
Ranma...apologized? Yes, Ryouga decided, the world had inverted. The sky was now green, grass was pink, birds flew backwards, and he was going off to the mountains to become a peaceful monk. It was better this way really, he'd get one of those neat little robes...Yes, then hell would freeze over, popcicle stands would be set up and the demons would run through the sprinklers.  
  
Better say something now before they start making out. Logan would get pissed if he Shishi-Hodokaned the hospital.  
  
"Hey, Ranma. Eat your damn cookies and be happy about it." Ryouga stepped through the door with Ukyou. Logan lagged behind, staying next to the door frame to let the old friends catch up.  
  
Ranma and Akane froze and glanced up as one. Ranma's arm jutted out at an odd angle, desperately trying to fend off the demon spawn cookies. Akane's eyes glinted with fear for a moment, but the emotion faded as she saw Ukyou standing next to Ryouga, unharmed.  
  
"Your all right!" Akane jumped off Ranma's bed. "We were so worried about you guys." She made a motion like she was going to run up and hug the both of them, but stopped. "After what Cologne said, I . . .oh god Ryouga what happened?"  
  
"What did Cologne say?" Ryouga asked, his blood suddenly running cold as he glanced over to Ukyou.  
  
"She said that the curse had changed, had mutated, and that you were able to lose yourself to Rage without getting wet..." Akane trembled as she spoke. "She said that if you ever lost your control completely without being under the curse we'd lose you, Ryouga Hibiki forever. You'd just be . . . that mindless anger-filled . . . It didn't happen, though, thank Kami . . ."   
  
"It's taken care of, Akane-chan." Ukyou smiled weakly. "He won't be reaching full Rage anytime soon, at least, not with me around. If he tries anything, he's gonna be meeting up with the blunt end of my spatula." She winked at Ryouga, who breathed a sigh of relief.   
  
"But it's still there." Ryouga's face clouded. "I haven't been cured. But . . ." His face hardened as his eyes burned with a fiery determination. Ranma wasn't the only one determined not to be brought back to the brink of death. "I think I have it under control now. I'm not...angry anymore ya' know?"  
  
Ryouga smiled a genuine smile, the first that any of them had ever seen on his face. It was nice to see, though Ranma had always thought his muscles just couldn't do it, like a disability or something. So he said so.  
  
"Wow, don't do that Ryouga it's creeping me out!"  
  
Ryouga opened his mouth to reply when a large crash resounded from the hallway.  
  
"I SAW HIM COME IN HERE! I KNOW HE'S HERE!" a women's voice yelled, in a tone that promised violence, pain and yet more violence.  
  
"Um..." The frightened male nurse mumbled back, trying to breath through the women's death grip on his collar.  
  
"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIM? IS HE HURT? IS HE SICK? NO OF COURSE NOT! HE CAN'T BE SICK! MY LITTLE BOY NEVER GETS SICK AND...hmm? Oh you can't breath? Sorry about that. I get carried away sometimes."  
  
"I believe he went in there ma'am..."  
  
"Thank you so very much! It's nice to know there's still nice people in the world these days." The women giggled.  
  
Inside the hospital room, the group tensed up as they heard the madwoman's footsteps approach. New people in Nerima were trouble. The old one's you could deal with, you already knew how they stood, if they wanted to marry you, kill you, rename you and put you on their shelf etc. etc. but the new ones...they were the most trouble.  
  
Unconsciously Ukyou and Ryouga fell into a fighting stance. Logan relaxed his limbs a bit moving himself in-between the injured martial artist and his girlfriend. His fingers clinched tightly around the cup of coffee he had brought with him. The women's footsteps approached and . . . turned around the other way.  
  
Huh?  
  
"HEY! I THOUGHT YOU SAID HE WAS IN THE ROOM OVER HERE! EEEEEEEEEEeeee where can he be? This isn't fair!"  
  
"Uh, ma'am," the voice of the nurse floated down from the hallway, "See that open door on your right?"  
  
"Hmm? OH! Thank you again! Oh my, these places are like mazes. I bet they built them like this one purpose so people would hit their heads on walls and have to stay longer. Evil bastards."  
  
Logan felt his heart stop as the women walked into the room.  
  
It . . . couldn't be. Arieru was dead! He had seen her fall and . . . there was no way. Not that he hadn't had a long love come back from the dead before, but it was surprising every time damn it! Her eyes, her hair, she had barely changed. His love's face had grown older, perhaps a bit more weathered. Her long beautiful hair cascaded over her shoulders, like a wave of dark chocolate. She was beautiful, she was--  
  
"MOM!" Ryouga ran up and hugged the woman.  
  
OH. MY. GOD.  
  
"OH MY POOR LITTLE BABY! ARE YOU OK? HAVE YOU BEEN EATING WELL? WHERE DID YOU GET THAT UMBRELLA? OH YOU'VE GROWN SO MUCH! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU I--"  
  
"Mom, I can't breath."  
  
"YOU LOOK SO HANDSOME! JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER!"  
  
Three feet away, Logan began to choke on his coffee.  
  
"YOU ARE SO ADORABLE! ONE OF THESE GIRLS _MUST_ BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND RIGHT? OR MAYBE THEY ALL ARE EH? OH DON'T TURN SO RED HONEY!"  
  
"MOM!"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I think I'm going to pass out if you don't let me go."  
  
"Oh sorrrrrrrrrry." She let her son go and turned toward the rest of the room.  
  
A crowd of frightened teenagers stared back, along with an extremely pale X-men.  
  
"Guys, this is my mom." Ryouga indicated her with a wave of his hand. "Mom, this is Ukyou, Ranma, and Akane." He pointed to each consecutively. "And this is--"  
  
"LOGAN?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Huh? He didn't remember his mom being able to read minds . . . Hey why is she running toward him....Ouch that had to hurt. Err, she's hugging him now? Hugging? Hey! WHAT THE HELL?!  
  
"MOM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY MOM LOGAN?!"  
  
Logan, still in a state of shock, numbly watched the world go by. Down in hell, Satan played ice skating tag with Tanya Harding, and passed ice cream sandwiches out to his minions.   
  
"I can't believe you . . ." Ryouga's mom sniffled and clutched onto Logan's neck tighter. "I CAN'T BELEIVE YOU FINALLY FOUND YOUR FATHER!"  
  
FATHER?! LOGAN WAS HIS FATHER?! HOW IN THE....hey that was pretty cool but...HOW IN THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN?! HE WAS TRAVELING ALL THIS TIME WITH HIS FATHER AND HE HADN'T KNOWN IT? LOGAN WAS HIS FATHER?. . . hey he had a lot better father than Ranma . . . heh heh . . . BUT . . .   
  
OH. MY. GOD.  
  
And then Ryouga did the only thing he could do in a situation like this . . .  
  
"Oh man Ryouga! Like you had to pass out on my bed!" Ranma reached over and tried to pry the lost boy from atop his broken leg. Ranma gave up after a few moments and tried pushing the nurse help button a few times.  
  
Logan just knew that somewhere, Cyke was laughing his ass off.  
  
------  
  
  
It was a beautiful day. The sun sparkled in a perfectly blue sky, warming the earth to a pleasant temperature of seventy five degrees. Unusual for March, a few butterflies flew across the grass in a happy little fluttering thing that they like to do. Early spring flowers bloomed and swayed in the breeze.  
  
It quite possibly the weirdest situation Logan had ever been in. Sure he had seen aliens, vampires, changed the course of time, had his memory erased, practically died a couple of times, went to alternate universes, etc. etc. . . . That had been peanuts compared to what he was doing now . . . eating at a picnic with his long lost love and SON of all things. It was mind boggling. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this?   
  
"Pass the pickles DAD."  
  
He was started to think Ryouga was calling him that just to get a rise out of him. He reached over and handed the container of pickles over to him.  
  
"Heh, what's wrong _DAD_? You look a little uncomfortable."  
  
"Quit it kid." Weird, definitely weird. Maybe he fell into some kind of 1950's sitcom alternate universe, or maybe he wasn't here at all but stuck in a giant machine controlled by two maniac depressive teenage girls. Weirder things had happened.  
  
"Oh it makes me so happy to here you call him that!" Arieru smiled happily and passed the pickles down the line.  
  
"Really? Then I'll make sure to call him that ALL THE TIME." Ryouga grinned evilly.  
  
Logan glared.  
  
"I think its wonderful that a father and son finally find each other after all this time!" Kasumi smiled one of her perfect smiles and continued to pass out the food to the other picnickers. "And a husband and wife to find each other after being so cruelly separated . . . oh my it's so touching."  
  
Logan grimaced slightly and Ryouga blushed. Logan actually had never . . .  
  
"Well . . ." Logan shifted his sitting position. "We never actually--"  
  
"Of course we did!" Arieru reached into a side pocket on her pants and pulled a piece of well worn paper out. She unfolded it onto the clean green grass. "See? I still kept the marriage certificate."  
  
Marriage certificate?! What the hell?! When did that happen? Great, something ELSE he had forgotten.  
  
"Arieru, don't you need the other person's permission to make one of those?" Or hell, doesn't the other person actually have to BE there?  
  
"Not if you do it right dear." Arieru winked.  
  
Ryouga grinned, watching the exchange between both his parents. So this was what it was like to have a family? He had always wondered. Granted, this was a little different than his daydreams . . .  
  
"COME ON RANMA EAT IT! I WORKED HARD ON IT!"  
  
"No way! You can't make me!"  
  
"Aiya! Eat Shampoo's food instead!"  
  
"Err. . . ."  
  
"RRRRRRRRANMA!"  
  
"QUACK!"  
  
Make that VERY different. But still it was nice. He wasn't sure if he deserved this peace and quiet but he wasn't going to waste it.  
  
"Here ya' go sugar, one specially made okinomiyaki." Ukyou smiled and tossed him the heart shaped food. Hmm, why was he getting a heart shaped one? Must have made too many for Ranma. Ryouga smiled back showing his fangs.  
  
Maybe this was that inner peace Cologne had been speaking about. He turned his eyes upward to the sky, watching a small wispy cloud slowly pass by. That one reminded him of P-chan . . . pigs . . . Was Akari OK? After the horrible thing he did to her . . . he hoped she would find happiness someday.  
  
----  
  
Last night, at the Unyruu farm . . .  
  
Akari sat in her living room next to a large window watching the rain fall down. A book sat in her lap, half forgotten. Occasionally she would gaze down at the bandages covering her hands. The doctors had said they would be able to repair most of the damage, but her hands would never be the same.  
  
It wasn't fair. She wasn't a bad person, just a little obsessed. Pigs were her life, she couldn't help it. Was it so wrong to enjoy what you do? It wasn't fair. She was a nice girl. She deserved someone too.  
  
She sighed and opened her book again.  
  
"Hello? Is anyone home?"  
  
Akari looked up from her book. Someone was at the door. Odd for someone to be out in this weather.  
  
She sat her book down and slowly stood, careful not to put too much pressure on her hands. A few minutes later she stood in front of a screen door. Carefully she slid the screen door back slowly slid the screened door back. For a moment she could have swore she saw Ryouga standing in front of her, then a flash of lightening illuminated the face for an instant, revealing another young man. He wore combat boots and camouflaged pants. He carried a large backpack on his shoulders and wore a white bandanna underneath a mass of wavy dark hair.  
  
"Sorry to bother you Miss. I got sidetracked from the main road, and was wondering if you could tell me the quickest path back to the main crossroads." Water ran down his well toned arms, dripping onto the wooden floor of the entrance. Akari blinked as the man sneezed loudly.  
  
"Are you all right? You look like a drowned pig!"  
  
Drowned pig? The man raised an eyebrow and sneezed again.  
  
"Would you like to come in for some tea? Your half froze. It wouldn't be right to turn you out into the night like this." Akari smiled warmly.  
  
"I don't want to impose..." Wait, a pretty girl asking him to come in for tea. "Sure I'd love to."  
  
He stepped into the doorway and sat down his pack. He grinned and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Ryu Kumon."  
  
Akari blushed and smiled softly. "I'm Akari Unryuu."  
  
----  
  
Yes, he hoped she would find someone someday. No one deserved to be alone. He looked over to his left and nearly laughed out loud as his mother teased Logan that she had three other children of his running around. He had forgotten how vexing his mother could be when she wanted to.  
  
He had a dad. No matter how many times he went over it in his mind he still couldn't wrap his mind around it. Not to mention his dad was . . . well a lot cooler than Ranma's dad that was for sure. Hell, he was cooler than just about everyone's dad.  
  
Almost everyone was here, except Happosai. What ever happened to that old pervert anyway?  
  
---  
  
2 weeks ago USA . . .  
  
"What a haul!" Happosai tightened his grip on his large bag of loot. An Oscar, Golden Globe, Hope diamond, , Key to Fort Knox, and a yellowed document with something along the lines of 'Constitution' written on it, fell out of his bag. He shrugged and moved on. Oh well, it's not like those items were very important anyway!  
  
Happosai pulled a large spiked bra out of the bag and snuggled next to it. It was beautiful. It was magnificent. It was--  
  
"Madonna's bra! Oh my life is complete! I can die a happy old man!"  
  
BOOM!  
  
The old pervert's ancient martial arts senses kicked into gear. Someone was coming. Someone powerful. Deadly.  
  
A monstrosity stepped from behind the hills. His aura was pure ancient evil. This creature had seen civilizations rise and fall, seen eons of knowledge.  
  
He was Apocalypse.  
  
The two great evils of the world sized each other up. Gazing into their opponents cruel and uncaring eyes, waiting for the other to relent. Nothing could result from this encounter but a fight of epic proportions. Who would give in first?  
  
Happosai felt the tension rise in the air until it became liquid matter, permeating everything around them until--  
  
Apocalypse stepped on him.  
  
----  
  
Ryouga laughed. Good riddance. If the old pervert didn't come back, the better the world would be.  
  
"Ukyou I . . . have something to tell you."  
  
Ryouga's eyes shifted to the other end of the meadow, where Ukyou stood next to Konatsu. The gender confused ninja seemed nervous about something. He hung his head as if a great weight was on his shoulders. Ukyou stood by him, confused by her friends reactions. Technically, they were too far away for any normal person to hear or see them clearly, but with Ryouga's heightened senses . . .What the hell, might as well use the damn perks.  
  
Besides, he was given these senses that means he was supposed to use them right? Yeah, he was MEANT to use them. He was in no way eavesdropping. He was only going with the gifts the gods had given him. Besides, he wanted to see what they were saying. He better not be proposing to Ucchan or anything.  
  
"What is it Konatsu?" Ukyou shifted her feet, uncomfortable with the atmosphere. Konastu was acting really strange.  
  
"Ukyou I . . . I . . ." Konastu clenched his fists.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I . . . I . . . love--"  
  
Ryouga froze in shock, his chop sticks in mid air.  
  
"I love tea more than okinomiyaki!"  
  
Ryouga fell forward into his bowel of curry.  
  
"I'm sorry! I'm going to have to leave the restaurant and follow my own path. I tried dear Ukyou, oh how I tried to grow to love it more, but my heart was tied to a beverage. I must blaze my own trail and start my own tea shop. The road will be long and strenuous I know. Can you ever forgive me for abandoning you?" Konastu looked determined, yet on the verge of tears at the same time.  
  
Several feet away, Ryouga attempted to pick curry out of his hair.  
  
"Err. . . sure sugar. You have to um . . . follow your heart and stuff."  
  
"I knew you would understand! Don't worry, broken hearts do eventually mend. It just takes time." Konastu really was crying now, and making dramatic gestures with his girlie hands.  
  
"Um . . . yeah my heart will go on."  
  
"We'll get through this Ukyou!" Konastu glomped on onto Ukyou, depriving the okinomiyaki chef of oxygen. You'd think with all those recovering wounds Konatsu would be a little less sturdy . . .  
  
Ryouga glared daggers of death as Konastu hugged Ukyou tightly. Of course, he didn't really care or anything . . .  
  
"Hey former pork butt." Ranma flopped down next to Ryouga, setting his crutches down next to him. The ends of the piece of wood were slightly bent from beating up on Kuno, leave it to Ranma to invent a martial arts called, "Crutches Fu".  
  
"Hey transsexual boy." Logan was right, the name didn't bother him anymore. Of course, it didn't apply to him anymore either, but whatever.  
  
"Hey! So what's up with your curse now? Are you cured or what?" Ranma reached over and stole a few of Ryouga's pickles.  
  
"Get your own pickles!" Ryouga rolled his eyes. "I got some bread ya' gonna steal that too?"  
  
"Hey....." Ranma said around a mouthful of pickles. "Well . . . so? Haven't answered my question."  
  
"Didn't you hear when Cologne was explaining it to everyone at the dojo?"  
  
"Um . . . I wasn't paying attention."  
  
"Figures." Ryouga sighed. "No, Ranma. I'm not cured completely. I've got a good grip on this curse, though. My Dad . . . he's a good teacher. Better than yours, anyway." The Lost Boy smirked.  
  
Ranma's eyebrow's crinkled. "So what happens when you get hit with cold water now?"  
  
"The curse's original ability was to bypass whatever emotional state I was in and instantly turn me into a dangerous killing machine with a metal spine, healing factor, and claws. However, the metal bones did not vanish in the change back to my normal form because of the genetic patterns. My genetics allowed my body to instantly accept the adamantium bonding, but refused to change back, because it was beneficiary. Apparently, they say I already had abnormal healing ability...whatever. Anyway, therefore, my body strove to complete the match of genetics between my cursed and non cursed form, as a healing method. The uncursed form, via magic, recognized the good traits of having a metal spine, and overrode the curse to keep the adamantium bound bones. Seeing as how my genetics are very close to Logan's, after all."  
  
Ranma blinked several times. He had lost him way back when he started talking about that genetic what-ja-call it. Hey, look at that pretty butterfly . . .  
  
"So no, I don't go completely into Rage anymore. I become something in-between, like a feral state and I'm only dangerous when provoked. Of course, we tested it before we even came back, after we met up with Logan."  
  
"Oh man, I'm sorry I asked."  
  
Ryouga smirked. He was really glad he had memorized the speech Cologne and that bald guy Professor Z or X ...something like that . . . had given him. Take that Ranma.  
  
"So it's just like, a generic version of the Neko-ken now?" Ranma retaliated back, not liking his patented arrogant smirk to be used against him.  
  
"I AM NOT COPYING OFF YOU!" Ryouga's eyes glinted brick red for a brief moment.  
  
"Whoa, sorry man. Calm down. You know were like, buddies now or something." Jeez . . . Ranma pulled at his collar. Was it getting hotter outside? Maybe he should put the bread that he just stole from him back . . .  
  
"And give me my bread back too."  
  
Damn.  
  
"Split it with ya'?"  
  
Ryouga held down his first reaction to break a plate over the pigtailed boy's head. He supposed this was supposed to be one of those meaningful moments, like they were burying the hatchet of past transgressions, forging a new tomorrow . . . become friends or something etc. etc.  
  
Either that or Ranma was starting to be intimidated by him.  
  
Ryouga decided he liked the second option best and reached out to take the bread--  
  
Suddenly a strong wind buffeted the area, sending napkins, paper plates, and anything else light enough into the air. The sound was almost a deafening roar. Ryouga held his hands over his ears in pain. The sound was painful to a normal person, but to Ryouga it was excruciating. Only one thought shot through his brain: Whoever was causing it was going to be in a lot of pain, very, very soon. The large roar softened to a dull whine as Ryouga looked up. A large black jet hovered near the camp, creating the air currents that were wreaking havoc on their already unstable picnic.  
  
"Logan!" A visored man in spandex (someone, somewhere was making a hell of a lot of money off that stuff), descended from the plane, and jogged up to the picnickers turned post apocalyptic survivors. "Hey, Logan we need you there's been--" The man stopped. "Uh, who are these people?"  
  
Ryouga grinned, despite his still ringing ears. Life wasn't dark and desolate all the time.  
  
"Logan honey, who is that man?" Arieru snuggled up closer to Logan, which made the stranger arch an eyebrow.  
  
"Listen Arieru, I think I'm going to have to leave I've--"  
  
"YOUR LEAVING?! I GET TO SPEND A FEW WEEKS WITH YOU AND THEN YOU LEAVE?!"  
  
Logan winced. Damn, now there was a scary sight. To hell with The Brood, the blob, those brain sucking zombies, and all those other things. What he was seeing now was putting them all to shame.  
  
"I'm sorry Arieru." Logan kissed her softly on the lips. "I have ta leave. I have responsibilities. A man of honor doesn't leave his friends." Ryouga felt proud of his father, and kinda embarrassed too. It was weird seeing someone kiss his mother . . . In the back, Genma held up a sign saying 'showoff'.  
  
"Wow, Ryouga's pop's pretty cool," Ranma whispered to Akane. His father next to him held up another sign reading: I'm just as good a father as he is!  
  
"Heh, right old man. Hey, are you sure I wasn't adopted or nuthing? Mom didn't have any liaisons with the flash or anything?"  
  
Genma held up another sign quickly. 'I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT!'  
  
A bead of sweat rolled down Ranma's brow. "Um . . . jeez Pop I was just kidding . . ."  
  
"But Logan, it's not fair! You know with my sense of direction . . . will I ever see you again?" Arieru stood up and looked with at Logan, tears brimming in her eyes. Logan's face consorted in grief.   
  
Ryouga was getting really embarrassed. If his parents started quoting Casablanca, he was going to scream.  
  
"Come on Logan! We don't have much time!" The guy with the visor scowled and looked back at the waiting jet anxiously.  
  
"DAMN IT CYC! Let me say goodbye to the wife and kid first OK?!" Logan glared, his grumpy look of death at his companion and turned back to his wife.  
  
"Heh OK just hur--" Cyclops paused. "Wife and kid?!"  
  
"Here." Logan pulled something that looked like a large X out of his jacket pocket. He picked up Arieru's hand sat it in her palm, wrapping her fingers around it. "Ya can contact me with this any time." Unless he was he was getting in skeleton ripped out by Magneto, in space, sucked into another dimension, or temporarily dead. But hey, how often did those things happen?  
  
Logan kissed Arieru tenderly one last time and then stood up. "Come on let's go." He paused and turned around. "Hey kid ya' wanna come?"  
  
"Sure!" Ryouga jumped up and grabbed his backpack. His dad was actually asking him to go somewhere with him! Cool! Well, maybe not so cool if he was going to fight brain sucking vampire zombie leeches, or psycho mutants bent on world conquest, but the bonding thing was still there. Nothing brought a person closer to a parent than helping them dismember evil alien leeches.  
  
Ah, he'd had good times with his mom.  
  
"Your not just going to leave are you?" Ukyou looked slightly hurt. There goes all the free help she had been getting at the restaurant the past couple of days. Ryouga was a good worker . . . yeah that's why she was feeling what she was feeling. Good worker yeah . . .  
  
"Bye Ucchan! I'll see ya when I get back!"  
  
Ukyou scowled. He called her Ucchan! Who said he could call her Ucchan?! Kinda sweet but...hey! She didn't say he could do that!  
  
Ranma and Konatsu's faces darkened. Who said he could call her Ucchan?  
  
Akane smiled. Awwww he'd called her Ucchan.  
  
"Ki-kid?" Cyclops stood dumbfounded as Logan dragged him off, Ryouga tagging along in tow.  
  
"Hey dad, what's wrong with your friend?"  
  
"I gotta a name kid."  
  
"Sure you do . . . DAD. Heh heh."  
  
"Grrr."  
  
The three companions boarded the jet and departed, in a flourish of wind blown fury that anyone could purchase for a few million dollars. Ukyou and Arieru watched the jet disappear into the distance, till it was only a pin prick in a sea of blue.  
  
"Men and their multi-million dollar jets and quests after psychopathic killers... so typical." Arieru sighed.  
  
"Yep, typical, typical. I'm feeling a little of that rage myself right now." Ukyou's eyes darkened.  
  
"Hmm, yes I am too dear." Arieru's eyes seemed to almost tint red. "We'll just have to . . . talk to them when they return eh?"  
  
The two woman chuckled as the sky turned a shade darker and the sun turned a bit dimmer.  
  
Ryouga's problems with rage were far from over . . .  
  
---------------------------------------  
  
THE END?  
  



	5. Rage: THE LOST CHAPTER

  
Disclaimer: Dont own X-men....thank god. I'd be bankrupt. :-P  
  
Note: This is the chapter that never happened. The LOST CHAPTER. It was originally in the fic, but taken out because it messed with continuity. And we also.....just well wanted to take it out. But now, it's been brought to you in its totally nonsensical form! Laugh! Cry! Be confused! ....well mostly be confused.  
  
RAGE  
THE LOST CHAPTER  
  
Three men sat in a dark room, the only light from the unadorned bulb swinging overhead. The tallest sat rigid in his folding metal chair, wavy brown hair framing his scowling face. The second tallest leaned back in his chair, arms behind his head, and feet on the card table, looking relaxed, but saddened.  
  
The last, and shortest, leaned on the table, smoking a cigarette.  
  
"Didn't you use to smoke cigars?" Scott Summers addressed his shortest team mate.  
  
"I'm cutting back," Logan smirked and blew a smoke ring in the leaders face.   
  
"Good fo' you, mon ami." Remy LeBeau added his own half-smile, chewing on a stick of licorice to help his own nicotine addiction.  
  
"Something has to be done about Rogue." Scott, ever the businessman, got right down to the heart of the matter.  
  
"Cyke?" One of Wolverine's dark eyebrows arched in interest.   
  
"That's the third pair of boxers she's stolen from my drawer this week!" The normally composed leader of the X-men slammed his fist on the table, causing Remy to fall over.   
  
"Funny," Logan smirked again. "I always had you pegged as a briefs man."  
  
"Moi aussi." Gambit stood up, brushing imaginary dust from his trench coat.  
  
Scott glared at them both.   
  
"What'd she get from you, Gumbo?" the wild-haired man turned to his Cajun companion.   
  
"Chere already got t'ree pair o' my briefs, an' two pair o' my silk boxers." Remy shrugged. "'Do, what I woul'n give ta still be in dem...." A dreamy smile crossed his face.   
  
Cyclops and Wolverine both made faces, and whacked him upside the head simultaneously.  
  
"How about you, Logan?" Scott faced the final member of the victim squad.   
  
"One pair 'o boxers."  
  
"One?"  
  
"Normally, it's bum to the breeze for me, Slim."   
  
"UGH! More than I needed to know!"  
  
----  
  
The Danger Room was running on the highest intensity of battle.   
  
Jean and Scott, together with Remy, were blasting Sentinels and putting down members of Friends of Humanity as fast as they could, without injuring any innocent bystanders.  
  
"SCOTT!" Jean cried out as an 'innocent bystander' meandered by, directly under the path of a falling Sentinel head. Under normal circumstances, the program would have had the person running away in fear, but this could easily be one of the people who were unaware of their surroundings in a real life situation.  
  
Cyclops turned to aim at the large metal object, but the bystander looked up, pointed, and leapt up to meet it.   
  
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" The boy shouted, causing the obstacle to explode into tiny pieces.   
  
Jaws dropped.   
  
"Merde..." Gambit muttered, taking out a cigarette and lighting up.   
  
"Computer, end simulation." Scott ordered. The Sentinels, the FOH, and the city scene faded away into the cold steel walks of the Danger Room.  
  
The boy, however, did not fade away.  
  
He looked around confusedly, his frustration building into a heavy blue aura.  
"What the hell? Where did everything go? And what was with that huge robot?"  
  
Cyclops was on his case so fast, he left an after-image.   
  
"Who are you? How did you get in here? Are you a spy? If you are, for whom? How can we contact your superiors? WHO SENT YOU HERE?!"  
  
"SCOTT!" Jean yelled. "Remember what the doctor said about your blood pressure..."  
  
An embarrassed X-men leader backed down timidly, while Gambit muttered something akin to "whipped".  
  
"Wha--?" The young man blinked.  
  
"I'm sorry, but my husband is a bit of a worry wart....." Jean smiled at the boy. "What he means to say is, are you lost?"   
  
"'Dat's a given," the Cajun rolled his eyes. "How else de boy gonna get in here? We had Beast lock de doors, non?"  
  
"Who? What?" The youth looked even more harried. "I was just in Canada..... where am I now?!"  
  
"You're in Westchester, USA...." Jean began, then noticed that the boy had brightened considerably.   
  
"Really?!" He beamed. "GREAT! Thank Kami! I'm supposed to be in Westchester, looking for someone!"   
  
"Oh?" Scott arched an eyebrow behind his visor. The kid wasn't concerned at all that three people in spandex were talking to him..... this was just a little too weird....  
  
"Yeah, d'ya think you can help me? I'm supposed to find this guy, Logan, and I've never met him before.... my sensei of sorts told me he could help me...." Ryouga dug out the very crumpled paper bearing the name of the man and his location.  
  
He handed it to Scott, who looked it over carefully before handing it to Jean.   
  
*Think he's safe?* he asked through their psychic link.  
  
*I don't sense any malice coming from this child...* Jean replied. *And from what I can tell, he seems honestly eager to locate Logan. His mind is a little hard to read though.... it's so dark!*  
  
*Dark?* Unintentionally, Scott scowled.   
  
"You lookin' for Logan, eh, garcon?" Gambit smirked, his red-on-black eyes sparkling.  
  
"You know where I can find him?" The young man's green-brown eyes snapped to the Cajun as soon as he heard the first syllable from his mouth, which was a fact not ignored by the ever paranoid leader.  
  
"Well, at de momen', Logan be out o' town." Gambit shrugged.   
  
"Out of town?" the youth's shoulders slumped, and he again regained some of that dark blue glow they had seen earlier. "How far out? When's he coming back? This is kind of important."  
  
"Important, like he be your papa or somet'ing?" The trench-coat wearing X-man tipped his head to the side while the boy shook his head 'no'.   
  
"I've never met Logan-san before," he admitted again. "I'm here to ask his help in a certain kind of training."   
  
"Logan be in Canada righ' now." Gambit shrugged. "We don' know when he be back."  
  
"Canada?" The blue aura increased. "I was just there . . . And you don't know when he'll be back?" Jean and Scott shook their heads.   
  
"Excuse me." The boy meandered a short distance away, the light growing every step of the way. Suddenly, a blue sphere of energy shot from his hands, and decimated one of the nearby walls.  
  
Jaws dropped.   
  
"Sorry about your wall . . ." The boy called out as he walked away.  
  
Scott, either too shocked to do anything, or having a heart attack, just stood there and marveled at the damage done. 'And Cerebro didn't detect him as a mutant, either...'  
  
Jean recovered from the shock the quickest, and called out to the professor, *Professor Xavier!*  
  
*Huh?* Xavier sounded confused, and lost, something completely out of character for the wise founder.   
  
*Professor, there was a boy in the Danger room... a real one, not a holograph. He blew up the wall.... did Cerebro notice any other mutants on the premises?*  
  
*Um . . . no . . .* Xavier winced, opening a door and finding a linen closet. *I haven't sensed anything too unusual, either . . . except for a moment ago, there was a spike of depression . . .*  
  
*I felt that too. . . I think it was from the boy . . . I wonder how he got in . . . and if he wasn't a mutant, how did he make the wall explode like that?*  
  
*Um . . . could we discuss this later?* the bald man made a noise of frustration as he opened another door, and found the kitchen.  
  
* . . . Of course, Professor . . . what's wrong? You seem distressed . . .*  
  
* . . . Personal problems. Nothing to worry about, I assure you.* He replied, and found Psylocke's room.   
  
'WHERE THE HELL IS THE BATHROOM?!' He thought to himself.  
=========================================================================================================== 


End file.
